And The Lords Of The Underground

[Mushroom_king]

[so this was kind of my pet project of sorts, I've already written several chapters and decided it was best to post them here.]

 

 

Prologue

 

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In Ancient Rome, there was a woman named Vedvacious; a woman who was adventurous and intelligent. So it was unfortunate that she was born in the time she was, since she wasn't able to do much.

 

So, it was a miracle to Vedvacious when she found out she had an interesting skill-the power of Time Travel.

 

She didn't entirely remember how she had discovered her skill, nor why she was even able to use the power. But in the beginning, she used it to take small trips to the past or near-future.

 

But eventually, Vedvacious became fed up with her life in her current time period, and eventually traveled to many different periods until settling down in the modern age.

 

Vedvacious, eager to travel, left Europe and came to the United States, where she became a history teacher at a local high school, called Parkdale, a school in a town in New York.

 

Vedvacious had settled comfortably into modern life, adapting modern language and ideals while remaining fairly Roman. She had treasures in her home and classroom, gathered from different ages in history.

 

Vedvacious didn't think much of her time travel, and thought she was the only one with such a power, until she overheard a troubling conversation.

 

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Far away, on a different planet, two alien beings-females-were discussing things.

 

Their names are translated as Fergusk and Debuson, and both were teachers of a sort on that planet. They were not very good teachers, and both had been threatened with being fired if they didn't do something impressive-this risked not their teaching jobs so much, but their entire chance of any occupation.

 

Fergusk was looking through a powerful telescope, and Debuson, her partner (of sorts), wondered what Fergusk might be up to. And she asked her exactly what she was up to.

"Fergusk, what are you even doing?" Debuson asked, looking as Fergusk peered into the telescope.

 

"I have a plan to get our reputations back," Fergusk said. "We'll take over a planet."

Debuson blinked. "What? That's impossible. Or at least exceedingly difficult."

"Not if we find a weak planet," Fergusk. "But not too weak. Not so weak that it's worth nothing."

 

Debuson nodded in agreement. She was a lot older than Fergusk, and yet was terrified of her.

"Debuson, grab a book and find me a planet that seems weak."

 

Debuson gulped, as such a task sounded rather difficult. But she insisted.

Debuson went and grabbed a few books on different planets off the shelves, and quickly flipped through them, showing possible candidates to Fergusk every so often, and each time Fergusk sternly told her that one would never work.

 

Finally, Debuson, convinced nothing would work, showed her the last one she was able to find, desperate that it would work.

"The Planet Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy."

Debuson shut her eyes, expecting more yelling from Fergusk that she was doing a terrible job.

 

Rather, Fergusk snatched the book away, nearly causing Debuson to fall over, and she scanned the book for information.

 

"Debuson, you are a genius. This is perfect."

"But what are you going to do?" Debuson asked, balancing herself again.

"Here," Fergusk said, and pointed to a paragraph and some outdated photographs. "Teenagers. Humans on that planet go through the teenage years, which are the most turbulent of their entire lives. They go to school at this age-Debuson, we're teachers. We could go and easily manipulate the teenagers into doing our bidding."

"How is that going to do anything?"

"Simple. These teenagers, when they graduate from the 'High Schools', go into the adult world. Some of them continue schooling, but even so, are considered members of the adult world. Thus, they become the next generation to 'rule', if you get what I'm trying to say."

 

Debuson thought for a moment, and then she understood.

"I see. But it sounds difficult."

"It will be! But that makes it all the better. And this is one of those planets with no contact with outside worlds. So they can't call on help!"

"But it say here that sometimes their countries band together to stop an evil force."

Fergusk laughed. "Are you kidding? I think they fight too much to even care what we do. Come on, Debuson. We need to leave NOW if we want to get anything done."

 

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The two aliens packed weapons, disguises, and many books in preparation for their stay on planet Earth. The trip didn't take much time, and the two aliens landed, conveniently, in the same town where Vedvacious lived and taught, in a small park. It was in the early morning hours, dark, and no one but a few shady types and homeless people were there-and none of them took much notice to the ship, with its lights turned off, silently going to the ground of the park. The few people in the park passed it off as a hallucination of sorts if they actually noticed it.

 

"Fergusk, this ship is going to cause a huge ruckus if anyone sees it when it gets light out," Debuson whispered to Fergusk.

"You tell me that like I'm stupid or something," Fergusk snapped. "After we get off and take our things, the ship will fly back home. I have a communicator with home, and the other teachers know that we're here (but they don't know what we're doing, ha ha!). A few days from now, they'll be constructing us an automobile, and possibly a boat and airplane, to travel with."

Debuson smiled, though she still looked scared. "You planned for everything, didn't you, Fergusk?"

Fergusk smirked. "I sure did," She said.

 

The two aliens gathered up their equipment, with Debuson carrying more than Fergusk, although Fergusk still helped-albeit with the lighter objects.

"Hurry, Debuson-we need to find a place to stay."

"Stay?!" Fergusk said, scared. "How will we do that?!"

"I have some money," Fergusk said. She awkwardly moved some things from her left to right arm, and grabbed a bundle of American dollars, showing it to her partner.

 

Debuson mouthed 'Oh' and didn't say much else. The two aliens had donned disguises, and when they stepped out of their ship, the vehicle, again silent and dark, flew away into the night.

Debuson looked up at the ship as it vanished into the night sky. She was getting homesick already, but didn't dare tell Fergusk, who was determined with the entire plan.

 

"Come on," Fergusk said, "We'll find a hotel for now."

 

Fergusk & Debuson walked the streets of the American city, getting mysterious glares from the few people they passed by. Debuson was terrified of the strange place, but Fergusk kept going. She refused to even ask where a nearby hotel was, although Debuson desperately wanted to.

 

Eventually, the alien came across a broken-down motel with a neon sign. Fergusk smirked, and went inside to get a room-a room for an unknown period of time.

 

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The next day, Fergusk and Debuson, after setting up in their hotel room, decided the best choice next was to get some jobs at the nearest High School.

 

"Come on, Debuson!" Fergusk shouted; when the two slept, their disguises were let off, as the disguises were technology-powered and needed some rest time. "We're job hunting today. Get up."

 

Debuson did as she was told as quickly as possible, donned her human disguise, and the two left the hotel to go find a High School.

 

As luck would have it, the aliens and Vedvacious took the same route to the High School, and the two aliens, deciding to ask around, asked Vedvacious first where a school was.

 

Vedvacious found the two of them strange-not realizing they were aliens, of course-and told them that she herself was a teacher, and she was on her way to Parkdale High School.

"Why do you two ask?"

"We're both hoping to become teachers."

Vedvacious nodded. "I see. Well, there aren't many openings right now for teachers themselves, but you might be able to become a faculty member anyway."

Fergusk nodded, and smirked. "Alright. Thank you, Miss."

 

Vedvacious was then lost in the crowd of people walking, although she stayed close. The two seemed strange.

And, stupidly, Fergusk started to talk about their plan.

"See, Debuson? I told you I'd prepared for everything. It's all going perfectly, and nothing can stop me-I mean us. Do you know where we are, Debuson? We're in the United States, which is incredibly powerful, and has lots of teenagers-lots of teenagers whose minds will be ready and waiting for us to control. If we have control of the teenagers in America, then getting control of every other teen in the world will be exceedingly simple."

"If you say so, Fergusk," Debuson said sheepishly.

"It's incredibly simple," Fergusk said, "And I planned for absolutely everything that could possibly happen. We'll have the planet in no time."

 

Vedvacious listened to the whole ordeal, and was disturbed by it. What were those two talking about? It was New York, and many strange folks lived there, but she'd heard a great many strange things here, and that just about topped it because of how serious and strange it was. If they got jobs at the school, she would have to keep a very close eye on them.

 

Who could she tell about it? She thought for a moment of all the teenagers she knew at the school, but one came to mind right away; and that was Clara Abbey.

 

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Clara Abbey was 15 years old. She lived in New York City, in the United States. She was a bit of a recluse at the High School she attended, Parkdale, due to her strange ways.

 

Clara spent more of her time online than she did anything else. True, it was the only place where she really felt she belonged, with friends from all over the world. At least there were people who understood her-just not anyone in her area code.

 

However, she had, this school year, found someone-here World History teacher, Vedvacious. Vedvacious was eccentric, and her classroom was full of glittery text posters with interesting history quotes, as well as random little artifacts from history. Clara liked Vedvacious's classroom.

 

Clara was really good friends with the teacher, as well, and told her basically everything. Clara told Vedvacious about bullies in real life, and how they hurt so much more than ones online, who didn't really hurt her at all. She told her funny stories about all her online friends, and about funny videos she saw. She told Vedvacious about her new favorite internet meme, or about her favorite critic or reviewer's newest video.

But, everyone has that one secret they never tell anyone, too dark, or possibly just too strange, and no one would believe it. Clara had one, just as Vedvacious did.

 

Clara, just like Vedvacious, had a power she had never told someone about.

Clara couldn't time travel, but she could travel through a computer.

Meaning, she could physically travel into the computer and physically through the Internet.

 

Clara had discovered this ability a few years prior, when she was dealing with a particularly nasty fanboy online, one that was annoying her to no end. Like many Net Citizens, Clara wanted to punch the fanboy in the face over the Internet; unlike anyone else, though, when Clara punched her computer screen in rage, her fist had gone through the screen, her fist disappearing into the screen.

 

The fanboy messaged her back, saying a fist had just come out of his screen and punched him. He was apparently terrified, because he never bothered Clara ever again.

 

Clara had been terrified and yet thrilled when this happened. After it happened, she checked once more to see if she had dreamed or hallucinated; she hadn't. She had been ecstatic.

 

Since then, Clara had made frequent trips into the Internet, and had recently discovered something more unsettling; this being that sometimes, when she went in-line (as she called it), she brought a little culture back with her, which manifested in the form of what she could only call spells. Clara felt she had the powers of her favorite 'Net Phenomena within her. She'd never gotten into a fight at school, or a fight period, so she'd been unable to fully test her theory. Online she fought every so often, and there, she had many of these 'spells', as did other users; in real life, he felt inklings of the spells.

 

Clara had also learned she could enter in one computer and out through another, creating a mode of transport for her; but since she really had no place she could go via this method, she mostly kept it in her mind for reference.

 

That morning, Clara walked to school, laptop in her bookbag. She wore her favorite shirt-her Three Wolf Moon shirt. Online, it was legendary, and tall tales were told of its mystical powers. Online it had all those skills; in real life, when Clara wore it, she felt a strange aura, but didn't pay much mind to it.

 

Clara walked into the school, the hallways empty. This morning she intended to go to the History room and talk to Vedvacious about a History project. Clara had been surprised that Vedvacious let her use Wikipedia, much to Clara's joy.

 

Clara walked down the hallways, until she reached Room 162-Vedvacious's room for World History as well as Latin, a class Clara didn't take, but from what she'd heard, Vedvacious taught it extraordinarily well.

 

Clara opened the door, seeing the light inside the room, signaling that the teacher had arrived at school and was in their room, doing whatever teachers did before school.

 

"Ved?" Clara asked, opening the door. Clara also had History first block, so she went over to her seat and set her bag and books down.

Vedvacious looked up, and right away sprang up and ran over to Clara.

 

"Clara, I need to talk to you about something," She said, and Clara looked worried.

"It's not school related," Vedvacious assured her.

Clara looked, and began to sweat. What could Vedvacious have to tell her that wasn't school related?

 

"Sit down," Vedvacious said, and Clara did.

"Ved, what's going on?"

"This is going to sound completely insane," Vedvacious said, her tone and face quite serious.

"Tell me," Clara said, and she felt a strange feeling rising from her stomach.

"I...I think I met two aliens this morning."

Clara stared.

"I overheard them talking about...these weird plans. Plans to control the minds of teenagers. They were going to become teachers at this school, I think."

Clara stared intently.

"Clara...you seem to be taking this well."

"I believe you, Ved."

Vedvacious blinked. "You do?"

Clara nodded.

 

"I...I don't know what to do. If they were really aliens, and they were serious, than we have a huge problem on our hands. But...but I think...Clara, I have something else I need to tell you, a huge secret of mine. I've never told anyone."

 

Clara gulped, trying to keep down the rising feeling in her stomach. She almost felt like throwing up.

"Clara, I...I'm not from...from now, I guess."

Clara stared.

"I time traveled. Do you understand? I originally lived in Ancient Rome. I came to this time after searching for a good one to live in. I came to the United States to explore the new country."

Clara stared. "I see," She said quietly.

 

Vedvacious looked confused. "You're taking this whole I'm a Time Traveler thing mighty well," Vedvacious said.

Clara nodded. "It's because I believe you. I believe you because I also have a big secret I've never told anyone: I can go inside computers and physically travel the Internet."

 

Vedvacious said nothing. The way Clara said it, she felt the girl was mocking her.

"I'll even prove it to you," Clara said, and for some reason Clara felt like crying.

"No, Clara, it isn't necessary. I believe you-if only because we both have powers."

 

"I always thought I was the only one," Clara said. "With powers, I mean."

"Me too," Vedvacious said. "And we aren't too different, I bet. I used mine to escape from a time where I didn't have any rights. You use yours to escape from a place where you can't relate with anybody."

 

Clara was shocked, and elated, and many other different feelings, all at the same time. Finally telling someone her secret was not something she thought she would ever do.

"That's true," Clara sighed.

Vedvacious nodded.

"As for what I saw this morning...I don't know. We need to pay close attention to those two if they decide to teach here. If they really are aliens, and really are trying to take over the planet, then we need to stop them. I think you and I may be enough to stop them, but that depends on how powerful they really are."

 

Clara nodded. "Alright. I'm going to go to the library now and maybe eat breakfast, if I have time."

Vedvacious nodded as Clara left behind everything save for her laptop.

 

"And Ved..." Clara said, as she left.

"Yes, Clara?" Vedvacious said, as she looked at some papers, disinterested in them.

"Do you think there are others? Like us?"

Vedvacious looked up. "I have no doubt about it," She said.

Clara nodded, and walked out of the classroom.

 

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"Hello," Said Ms. Francis, a woman who worked in the office at Parkdale High. "How may I help you?"

 

Fergusk & Debuson stood in front of the Attendance Counter, staring at the short, chubby woman who worked there.

"We want jobs here," Fergusk said, as nicely as she could. Debuson smiled and nodded.

Ms. Francis out her head on her hands. "Then you need to go into the office and talk to the secretary. This is the attendance office."

Fergusk grimaced, but did so anyhow, roughly pushing open the neighboring door into the main office.

 

"Excuse me," Fergusk said, getting the attention of the bored secretary. "Me and my friend want jobs here."

The secretary stared. "Um, alright. You'll need an application for that. You'll have to wait, and talk with the principal."

 

Fergusk scowled, and Debuson smiled fearfully. The women sat down in the blue chairs, and waited until the principal could see them.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

The principal of Parkdale High didn't like the two women, but since there were openings available, let them have the jobs. Fergusk became an administator, and Debuson a teacher of US History just across the hall from Vedvacious's class.

 

"That's them!" Vedvacious said to Clara after the first block World History ended. "One of them is teaching the US History class," She explained. "That one seems to have been the weaker of the two. I don't know her name."

"We should try and find out what job the other one got," Clara said.

Vedvacious nodded, and folded her arms, staring over at the U.S. History Class.

 

"This is terrible, if the new teachers really are out to control student's minds," Clara said. "That teacher is going for the freshmen, looks like. Fresh high school minds."

She looked at the Roman. "What should we do?"

Vedvacious said nothing for a few moments. "I don't know. We should watch them for a few days. You try and watch them, but try and avoid them as much as you can. If they're serious about their plans...I'm curious how they'd control minds."

 

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"Students," Said Debuson, "I am your new teacher. I know it must be strange getting a new teacher all of a sudden, in the middle of the year, but I assure you, I am looking forward to teaching you. Very, very much."

 

She took a marker and wrote "MRS. DEBUSON" on the board.

"Mrs?" Asked a student. "Are you married, Mrs. Debuson?"

Debuson's eyes rose. "What? No."

"Then you're MISS Debuson. Not Mrs."

"Heh, sorry," Debuson said, fixing the mistake. "Sorry. I did not know."

 

The students were bored out of their minds-some texted, some played with pencils, and others tried to sleep.

Debuson began to sweat. She had no idea how to handle these students. Hopefully they weren't too rowdy. They seemed simple enough to take control of. But how would she do it? She had to discuss it with Fergusk.

 

"Alright, students," She said. "Can anyone tell me what your old teacher was teaching when they were last here?"

One freshman in the back raised their hand, their other hand supporting a sleepy head.

"Second World War."

 

Debuson sweated again. She didn't know anything about Earth history.

"Uh..alright. Were there any movies or anything being watched? Or papers? Anything?"

A different student rose their hand, and yawned, "We had a paper that was due today."

 

The other students groaned at the student who reminded the new teacher of the homework, and Debuson knew, at the very least, that that child would never be able to let it down.

"Alright. Please come put your worksheet on my desk while I read over the lesson plan for today..."

 

A handful of the students got up and turned in papers, as Debuson pored over a lesson plan. Today's plan was to read Chapter 24 in the books, and do the paper for that section. Then, they would watch a video about America in the Second World War, and do video notes.

 

Debuson groaned.

"Alright class. We will be watching this video. You must take ten notes on it."

The class sighed, but got out paper anyway, many borrowing from other people.

Debuson fiddled with the DVD player, and eventually began to play the movie as the students took some notes on whatever they could. While they did, Debuson left the classroom to find Fergusk.

 

The assistant was just outside Debuson's classroom, doing nothing in particular.

"Fergusk," Debuson said through her teeth, "I need help."

"What is it?" Fergusk snapped, and Debuson leaped back a bit, always scared of her superior.

"I...I don't actually know how we're going to control minds."

 

Vedvacious, who was outside her classroom, pricked up her ears at this, and pretended to go back in her classroom-however, there was a small alcove near her door that she hid in.

Fergusk laughed, rather menacingly. "That video I gave you," She said, giggling. "I edited the footage. It'll have those teens in your class controlled before you know it."

"Oh, so we'll do it in different ways. The mind controlling, I mean."

"Of course, stupid," Fergusk said. "Now get back in there already," She said, opening the door and shoving Debuson back in. "Amateur."

Vedvacious gasped as quietly as she could, and went back in her classroom. She needed to tell Clara this. After school-Clara had already moved to her next class.

 

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"Clara," Vedvacious said, as the girl came into the classroom. "I have news."

Clara said nothing, and sat down.

"I overheard Fergusk and Debuson talking today. I was too late-Fergusk tapped a History Video to control the minds of students in some way. They are serious about this, and I'm worried about those freshmen."

Clara nodded. "So am I."

Vedvacious folded her hands and laid her head on them. "What are we going to do...?"

 

"We need to find out more," Clara said. "What are they going to do with the students once they control their minds?"

"That's what we need to find out," Vedvacious answered, and stood up. "Both of them said they would be staying late today. Perhaps we could go visit them?" Vedvacious said, and both of them stood up, Clara's bookbag still slung over her shoulder.

 

Both of the women walked across the hall, from Vedvacious's World History class to Debuson's US History class, and peeked inside.

Inside, Fergusk & Debuson were talking to a roomful of the freshmen students from that morning. They all looked the same as they usually did-no cliche slack-jawed mouths or empty black eyes. The only difference was that they were all paying very good attention, when as we know, those kids from the morning class did not pay attention at all due to lack of caring.

 

"Clara," Vedvacious whispered, "Now is a time to show me your powers. Get inside your laptop, and travel into the computer in that room. Don't come out-just do it so you can eavesdrop."

"OK," Clara said, and took her laptop out of her bookbag. Vedvacious held it in her outstretched hands, and Clara, with some difficulty, crawled inside it.

 

Clara looked around inside the computer; she was on her desktop right now, which had a witty demotivational poster on it.

"Alright. Find other computer," She shouted, and a window popped open showing every computer in the school that was currently on. She browsed through them as quickly as she possibly could, until she found the one for Debuson's room. Luckily for her they were named by teacher and subject, rather than room number alone.

 

Clara leaped up and clicked on the folder, climbing inside of it.

Before she knew it, she was inside the school computer, away from her fun desktop and icons for games and into a bland, school-logo desktop and folders for grades and schoolwork. She was tempted to go and change her grade, until she remembered she didn't take US History.

She leaped out, and stuck a single ear outside the computer to hear, and heard Fergusk talking.

 

"...And, kids, since you're part of our plan now, you'll be helping us take over the world!"

"Yea, Fergusk," The kids said, in messy unison.

"In case you're wondering, which I doubt you are...we'll be injecting you with temporary powers. You will, as you may say, 'wreak havoc' on the city. Then, when you do a good job, we'll inject you with permanent powers, and we'll move on to other cities until this entire country is ravaged by teenagers. And then, young people will rule the world!"

The teens let out a genuine cheer, and Fergusk laughed, with Debuson joining along nervously.

 

Clara swiftly pulled her ear back in, and went back to her own laptop, and tumbled out of the screen.

"What are they up to?"

"They're injecting the freshmen with some kind of steroid that gives them powers, or something, and they'll cause havoc all over the city."

Vedvacious gasped, which, unfortunately and unintentionally, caught the intention of Fergusk & Debuson.

 

"Who's that?" Fergusk said, glancing over towards the door. Debuson bit her thumbnail, and the heads of the freshmen also turned towards the door.

"Hold on. We'll take care of this," Fergusk said, and hit Debuson's shoulder. "You! Inject them, right now. We have eavesdroppers."

 

Fergusk kicked the door open, and glared at Clara and Vedvacious.

"I see," She said, "The World History teacher and her student are eavesdropping on me."

Vedvacious shook her head, but Clara stood firmly.

"Well, it's one or the other, we can silence you, or you can calmly go with us in our plans. We'll make it as painless as possible."

Clara glared at Fergusk, and the alien lifted her head.

"Clara Abbey, right?"

Clara nodded.

"Alright, Clara. Vedvacious, you're an adult, but since you know about us now, we'll have to get rid of you. A shame we can't use you for the plan."

Fergusk reached for Clara's shirt collar, but the girl bounded back, and Fergusk, not even slightly fazed, walked back toward her.

 

Clara had to think faster-what could she do to stop Fergusk? She racked her memory for an internet meme, or at least some manner of phenomenon, that she could use. She was a little scared to use powers in front of Fergusk, but knew she had to.

 

Fergusk yelled at her partner to take care of the students while she dealt with Vedvacious and Clara, and slammed the classroom door shut.

"Alright. The girl first."

 

Clara glared at the alien as menacingly as she could, and before she knew it Fergusk lunged at her, and Clara, without knowing what to do, threw a punch at the alien in the stomach while yelling, without really realizing it, "Falcon Punch!!"

 

Fergusk was flung back, hitting the classroom door. Her human disguise broke for a split second, but Vedvacious and Clara both knew what they saw, and wanted to erase it from their minds.

"What power!" Fergusk said, getting back up. "But I don't think you could do it again."

"And I bet you can't stop the rock," Clara said smugly. Fergusk raised an eyebrow but prepared to try and grab Clara again, when a large, round boulder suddenly appeared and started rolling.

 

Vedvacious clutched Clara's arm and ran for her classroom, but Fergusk, panicking, ran down the hallway, screaming for Debuson, who, after the rock rolled away, opened the door and wondered what was happening.

"What the...?" Debuson said quietly, examining her partner running away from the rock. She blinked, and wanted to go back inside, but knew Fergusk would chew her out if she did. So, she told the kids something, and walked outside to run after her partner.

 

"Fergusk? Fergusk!!" Debuson shouted from behind the giant rock. Vedvacious looked at Clara sternly.

"You've saved us, but that rock is going to destroy the hallway," She said, and Clara shook her head.

"I don't think so. That rock is just computer code, I think."

The two looked out of the alcove where Vedvacious's room was, and saw that the rock had ran into Fergusk, hurting her, but not greviously injuring or killing her. Debuson was jumping around, freaking out, hoping Fergusk wasn't dead ("Fergusk, I can't do this without you, mostly because I have no idea what to do!")

 

Debuson stopped when Fergusk slowly stood up, moaning in pain. Vedvacious looked at Clara, and Clara, grinning, simply shrugged.

 

Fergusk got up, with some difficulty, with Debuson helplessly trying to restrain her.

"Little bitch," Fergusk said, stomping her way towards Clara. "I'll bet you couldn't do something like that again, huh?"

Vedvacious clutched Clara's arm and they began running down the hallway, with Fergusk spinning around and screaming at Debuson to stop them. The woman promptly complied, running towards and weakly tackling Clara and Vedvacious.

 

Debuson picked up Clara by the collar of her lucky t-shirt, and clenched Vedvacious's sweater in her other hand.

Fergusk walked over to them, limping, and grabbed Clara, snapping at Debuson to keep a close hold on the woman.

 

"Clara Abbey," Fergusk said, "I don't know how you did that, but what I want to know right now is: what are you?"

Clara looked at Fergusk, and smirked. "Me? I..." She looked at the ground, and then, squarely punched Fergusk in the stomach.

"I am a man," She yelled, her voice cracking. Fergusk recoiled, and Debuson, not sure what to do, went to her partner's aid, letting go of Vedvacious.

 

Fergusk slapped Debuson weakly, screaming at her to go after the two of them; Debuson insisted that she wanted Fergusk to be alright. Fergusk groaned loudly, but by the time they'd finished arguing the two had already escaped. Luckily for the aliens, the brainwashed kids in the classroom didn't care either way.

 

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Clara and Vedvacious ran out to the teacher's European car, with Clara accidentally trying to climb into the driver's seat.

 

The two climbed in, buckled up, and sat there for a moment, gathering their breath, before Vedvacious started driving out of the mostly-empty parking lot. It was getting late.

 

"I feel sorry for the parents of those freshmen," Clara said after a short silence, once they were on the road. "I really hope we can do something about it..."

"Well, the good thing is that you have a great talent and you can beat those two up. The best thing is that I know I'm not crazy. But the bad thing is that I know Fergusk is dangerous, and I think she'll stop at nothing to control you or destroy you."

 

Clara sighed.

"Where do you live, Clara?"

Clara looked at her teacher. "Oh, my mom won't mind if I'm away for a while. I'm on the computer so much she'd applaud me if I was out of the house for a while."

Vedvacious sighed, but agreed. "I guess I should get you something to eat. Fast food, I guess."

"Ved, how will we get by at school tomorrow with Fergusk & Debuson?"

"I don't know," The Roman said, intensely concentrating on the road.

 

Ved took Clara to a burger restaurant, where the student had some fried chicken, fries, and a soda. She got on her laptop, checking her many websites she was a part of, and then the two left; Clara was, eventually, dropped off at her two-story house, the two of them wondering, and tossing and turning in their beds, over what they would do the next day about the aliens.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

Vedvacious picked Clara up the next day for school, and the teacher drove, the student staring out the window, in nervous silence.

 

They pulled into the parking lot of the school, and Clara climbed out, carefully grabbing her backpack, and Vedvacious jumped out with her carryall bag. The two looked around, and then walked into the school.

 

The hallways were not as quiet as they were yesterday-a few more kids were in the halls, and the sound of them talking and lockers being opened echoed across the walls.

 

Clara and her teacher walked closer to the classroom, with Clara's legs getting shakier and more jellylike the closer she got to the alcove where Vedvacious's classroom was.

 

When they did, they stopped, looked at each other, and then over at Fergusk & Debuson's classroom. They peeked in-the room was dark, and locked as well. Not even the computer was on.

 

Clara looked back over at Vedvacious, and sighed. "Well, we'll have to wait. I'm sure Fergusk will be storming into your classroom later on."

The two women walked into Vedvacious's classroom, but found the door already opened; Vedvacious's hear began to pound and she ran inside the room and turned on the lights.

 

Luckily, everything was still there, including the various artifacts, Vedvacious ran over to the desk as Clara set her bag down, and desperately rushed through all the drawers to see if everything was still there-which they were. The only new thing was a small note on Vedvacious's desk-a small sticky note that said, in rushed script,

 

VEDVACIOUS AND THAT KID

WE HAVE DECIDED TO START SMALLER IN OUR PLAN

HAVE FUN STOPPING US WHEN WE'RE IN AUSTRALIA.

-FERGUSK & DEBUSON

 

Vedvacious stared at the note, and then at Clara.

"Australia? Really? How would we be able to find them there?"

Vedvacious sunk in her chair. "It's hopeless, then. We can't fly there-it's too far."

Clara sat down, and laid her head on her arms.

"Do you think, maybe, there's a kid like me in Australia?"

Vedvacious looked at Clara. "I hope to God there is," She said.

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

On the other side of the world, Xavier Flynn, a young man the same age as Clara, was dead asleep just as Clara had gotten to school. He'd stayed up fairly late, per usual, and practically expected himself to be late for school tomorrow.

 

Fergusk & Debuson had arrived in Melbourne not too long before, and automatically the both of them, were already getting a few complaints for being loud.

"Fergusk, what happened? Why's it so dark?"

Fergusk turned around and nearly smacked her partner. "The time zones, and hemispheres, stupid. It's daytime over in America, while everyone's dead asleep here. Christ...I didn't take that into account..."

"But Fergusk, we arrived in America at night, too. And why are we in Australia, anyway?"

"Australia, Debuson, isn't that powerful on the world stage, but it seems everyone likes them. And they're like a weird, stupid combination of Americans and British people."

Debuson paused.

"From Great Britain, Debuson!!"

"Oh," Said the alien, sulking.

"Well, we need to find a place to stay, and tomorrow, find a school to work at. Hopefully no superkids attend it to stop us."

"Yeah," Debuson said. "But how will we do it this time?"

"#### if I know," Fergusk said. "I'll find something out."

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

A day passed. Clara Abbey, back in the US, went through a day of school worried sick and feeling hopeless-and when she went to bed, on the other side of Earth, Xavier Flynn was waking up.

 

He was fairly tall and thin, with mussed light brown hair and bony hands, covered in red spots. This was mostly due to Xavier's hobby, which was building and fixing things.

 

Xavier climbed out of bed, and changed out of his pajamas into a soft, sturdy dress shirt, some equally sturdy shorts, and looked out at the weather.

"Looks pretty warm," He said a bit sadly, and glanced over at his coat. It was a genuine lab coat, and he really loved it-he felt official in it, plus it was the only coat he'd had that didn't get torn up or so stained his mother made him throw it out.

 

"Ah well," He said, "I guess there's nothing to do about that!"

He picked up a rotting backpack, limply held together by safety pins, paperclips, and duct tape. He jokingly said once that he'd tried to weld it and it hadn't worked too well.

 

He left his room, shut the door as tightly as possible, and walked his way through the living room where he'd left some shoes, and managed to find a pair of socks in his room when he went back.

 

"Mum, are you almost ready?" He called into the house, wondering where his mother was. "If we leave right now, I'll be early! You know, instead of late?"

His mother came out of a kitchen, staring at him. "If you're so willing to not eat breakfast, Xavier..."

"It's alright, mum, now hurry up and get me to school."

 

Ms. Flynn (for it was just her, Xavier, and two older siblings) walked out the door, followed by a practically bouncing Xavier into her car.

"Wish I could drive it," He said, as he stared at the road.

"Two more years, Xavier," His mum reminded him.

 

Xavier arrived at school, early for once, after saying goodbye to his mother ("I'll see you later, yeah?") and walked into the school.

 

It was an ok school, in Xavier's own opinion; there were a few students he liked talking to, but no one he'd consider a close friend. This was mostly because Xavier really shouldn't have been in this school-he was far too smart. He'd been considered a prodigy since he was younger, but his family wasn't able to get him into better schools. This, coupled with Xavier not being that studious and lazy when it didn't come to building things, he didn't know if that was for the best. Either way, he found school too easy.

 

When school started, he walked into a History class, coincidentally enough, and found the class devoid of a teacher-the students lounged about, and Xavier looked about.

 

"Where's the teacher?" He asked a student who sat near him, setting down his backpack.

"No idea," they responded; "We heard that there's some new woman teaching us."

This intrigued Xavier, and he sat down in his spot, waiting for the new teacher.

 

Fergusk walked into the room, followed by Debuson, who looked beat. The latter sat down, and Fergusk hastily wrote her name on the board.

"I'm your new teacher," She said in a just as hastily thrown together Australian accent. The class groaned audibly.

 

"Fergusk, can you not talk like that? Only Xavier talks like that," Said a girl's voice.

Xavier rolled his eyes. "Sorry, can't help the way I speak, can I?"

Fergusk slammed her fist on the table, in front of Xavier. "Shut up!" She said, in her regular voice. She opened her mouth, but Xavier interrupted with "Oh, you're American!"

"N-Yes," Fergusk said, correcting herself. "Sure."

 

There were a few whispers from the students, as they'd only had Australian teachers before.

"Fergusk," Xavier asked, "Why would you come to Melbourne just to teach here?"

"Because I love children. Now all of you shut up so I can take role and get you your assignments."

 

Xavier already didn't like the new teacher; he didn't know what, but aside from her mysteriousness, he just didn't seem to like her. Her aura, as you could call it, exuded something bad.

 

"Excuse me, Fergusk." He said, standing up.

She turned around, just as she was setting a video up.

"What is it?"

"May I be excused?"

Fergusk turned around. "Why?"

"I want a drink..."

"Fine," She said.

 

Xavier got up and walked out of the classroom.

Of course, he wasn't really thirsty, he just wanted to leave the class-he didn't feel comfortable with that woman around, and it even felt a little dangerous.

 

However, to avoid suspicion, he did walk over to the boy's lavatory, thinking for a moment why he felt so suspicious and, well, scared of Fergusk.

He walked back over to the room and peeked in. The video had started, and everyone was staring at the screen. Their postures were stiff and their eyes were blank, and Xavier wondered what was going on.

 

"I can't go back in," He said to himself. "But what to do...?"

His heart froze when he heard the classroom door open, and Fergusk walked out.

 

"I was wondering when you'd come back to class, Xavier."

"Well I was just planning on not ever coming back. I can see you've done something to the others."

"Well, at least you noticed that much. But how did you know that I would do it? After all, why else would you try to leave class?"

"I didn't know, all I knew was there was something bad about you. What have you done to them?"

"Nothing much, Xavier; they're just being controlled."

 

Xavier stared at her for a moment, taking in what she'd said. "You're not from the States, are you? Tell me where you're from!"

Fergusk smirked. "If you really must now, I'm not from America. I'm an alien."

Xavier stared at her. "I don't believe you."

"Of course you don't. But I can prove it for you."

"I'd rather not see what you look like under your skin," Xavier said boldly.

"So you believe me now?"

 

Xavier said nothing for a moment. He wasn't a psychic of any kind, but his overpowered mind had always been especially sensitive. Not only had he sensed Fergusk's 'badness', but now he could tell she wasn't lying about being an alien-just by the vibe she put off. It wasn't something that resonated in his body like a psychic aura-it was something brain-related. He wasn't sure how he would put it.

 

"Yes," He said.

"I see," Fergusk said, and walked towards him. "Are you psychic, then?"

Xavier shook his head. "No," He said quietly, moving away from her. "People say I'm a genius, though."

"I see. That's fine, too...even better, in fact."

 

Fergusk frowned, though. "But I swore...you had that vibe..."

"What?"

"The vibe. I felt it in that American girl."

Xavier stood up straight. "What American girl?"

Fergusk shook her head.

"Never mind that. You had that weird vibe, so I have to destroy you." She said this as she began pulling some alien weapon out of her pocket.

Xavier reached deep into his shorts pocket, and pulled out a small barrel, almost like one off a gun. A tiny trigger was on it.

 

"What the #### is that?" Fergusk said, eying it.

"I built it in class once because I was bored," He said. "Look!"

 

He snapped the trigger and a small, neon-colored eraser cap sprung out and hit Fergusk directly underneath her eye, which she clutched with her hand.

"What in the...? How the #### did you build that?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Xavier said, and he aimed it at Fergusk and fired a few more times, with differently-colored erasers hitting her.

 

"Stop that!!" She demanded, and charged towards Xavier, who shoved the gun back in his pocket and, waiting until just the right moment, put a finger to his shoes and kicked Fergusk in the stomach.

 

Aside from the pain of, well, being kicked in the stomach, an electric shock went up through Fergusk, who was flung back in the hallway.

Xavier wondered why no teachers had yet observed the commotion outside.

 

"What in the...what was..." Fergusk coughed, barely able to speak.

Xavier put his hands on his hips and lifted a foot to show her his shoes. "I outfitted these with circuits. They're my taser shoes," He said proudly.

"Taser...? You son of a bitch," she muttered, struggling to get up. "Never mind. I have a group of teenagers not only here, but I have one in America...both of which will soon be helping me with my plans."

 

"What are you talking about? You're controlling the minds of some American teenagers?"

Fergusk nodded. "But I'm telling you too much. I want to control your mind, but...I think you're too smart to fall for my subliminal videos."

Xavier stood across from her, and shook his head. She stood up, took out some sort of communication device, and barked at Debuson to meet her at their house, and Fergusk ran off towards the entrance of the school. Xavier rushed back into the room and grabbed his backpack, which was filled with nearly all his inventions, and gave chase to Fergusk.

 

"Don't follow me, you brat! You're young, go back to school, or home!"

Xavier flicked a different switch on his shoes, revealing some wheels, and sped up to catch Fergusk. "Mum won't care if I'm missing for a little while!"

"And what about school? Are you just a class-skipping punk?"

Xavier sped up, careful not to fall despite his backpack causing some balance problems.

"Perhaps," Xavier shouted to her, and, struggling, continued to chase her.

 

Fergusk eventually reached her car, driven by Debuson, and practically jumped in, with Xavier clutching onto the bumper.

"That damn kid is still onto us," Fergusk said through gritted teeth. "Debuson, can't you do anything to get him off?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but the car is not outfitted with any fancy weaponry."

"Are you kidding? I thought this would be outfitted specially for every country!"

"It is, sir. It was outfitted for desert travel for for treating animal bites. Not for war, sir..."

Fergusk groaned, angry and distressed. "Gah! Just DO SOMETHING ABOUT HIM!"

"Yes, sir," Sighed Debuson.

 

On the bumper, the Australian was still holding firm, and his mind raced with thoughts of every invention in his pack that could help him both stay on better as well as get into the car, all of which he was unable to get due to the car going so quickly.

Eventually someone will see me riding back here and pull her over, He assured himself as the car raced away, rocking him around. Debuson was, according to orders, swerving wildly to try and fling him off.

With that, she'll definitely get pulled, He thought, clutching onto the car for dear life, and, with a shaking hand and a death grip with the other, reached into a backpack pocket for a contraption that he'd built to cut through car doors-he'd built it in case he ever got kidnapped and stuck in a trunk or something. However, the situation was now reversed-he was planning on sneaking into the trunk and, possibly, making them think he'd been flung off.

 

Damn! He thought, shifting through his pocket. The steel-cutter isn't in here! But...

He felt around, and found a rusted paperclip that he must have shoved into his shorts long ago and had since gone through hundreds of wash cycles.

Lockpick! He said, and nearly cried in joy.

I have to do this juuust right, He thought. But how can I make them think I was flung off...?

The first thought was to fling an invention onto the road to create a loud noise, but not only did he not have anything big or heavy enough to imitate the sound of a boy hitting the road, but he wasn't willing even one bit to throw an invention onto the road if he couldn't get it back.

But perhaps there's something in the trunk! he thought, and carefully moved down, dangerously close to the street. His heart raced as he tried to figure out how he would pick the lock without falling off the car.

 

Perhaps I could strap myself to something on the car, He wondered. He always kept rope in his backpack, and he'd built grappling-hook suspenders once, though those were in his pack, and were buried fairly deep.

Guess I'll do it one-handed, He decided. He took the paperclip in his shaky hand, and using his fingers, teeth, and the hard surface of the car, somehow bent it into a straight shape.

 

He jammed the clip into the lock of the trunk, and, not really knowing how he would unlock it, turned the clip wildly. He nearly fell off with shock and had to quickly move his hands around to move the trunk, both to not fall, but also to not get the alien's attention.

 

He climbed into the trunk, a hand still keeping it down, and he looked around in it. There were some helmets, suitcases, and a toolbox. He already had a toolbox in his pack, so he heaved it up and threw it on the road, and quickly shut the trunk down just enough that he wasn't completely shut in (using some suction cups, string, and other things)

 

"What the #### was that?" Fergusk shouted, and Debuson slowed down considerably. "Was that him?"

"I'm not sure, sir, but-" She looked into the rear view mirror, and out of the window to double check. "I don't see him on the back anymore."

"Good," Said Fergusk, sighing. "I'm too good to deal with bratty kids like him and that Abbey girl. Speaking of, we should probably get back to New York and kill her and that teacher, too-I doubt our mind-controlled mass of teens would have done it for us."

 

Xavier listened as intently as possible from the trunk, and it piqued his interest.

New York?

He thought for a moment about that.

That's in America-it must be where this girl she mentioned is, He thought.

He laid his head on his backpack, and smiled a little bit.

I've never been out of Australia, He said, and he sighed. In fact, I've never been out of Melbourne. This'll be fun, He thought.

 

"Let's get back home," Fergusk said. "Load the car into the plane, and we'll fly back as soon as possible."

[Mushroom_king]

Chapter 3

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

"Fergusk..."

"What is it?" Fergusk snapped at Debuson.

Debuson shrank back. "Nothing."

Debuson, to Fergusk's orders, loaded the car into the plane, along with a beat-up old blue minivan that belonged to Debuson. After she'd shut the doors to the storage area, Xavier waited to make sure it was safe, and climbed out of the trunk.

 

He was hungry-he unzipped his overstuffed backpack, and to his happy surprise, there was a big packed lunch in it. His mother often put these in his pack in case he wanted to leave home for a little while.

 

In the pack was enough food for, if he rationed, about two or even three days. Along with some utensils, included in the pack was some bottled water, two soft drinks, a few packs of fruit juice, a can of soup, several sandwiches and cookies, a can of tuna, a few cups of instant ramen, and, Xavier's favorite food, chopped-up pineapples.

 

He took out the water-bottle, and looked at the food, wondering what to eat. He wanted some ramen, but had no way of heating any water in a quick way; he decided that he'd just have a sandwich and a cookie, and eat a proper meal later on.

At this thought, he shifted through his bag again, and found his wallet. He'd 'built' it by wrapping lots of duct tape together (after his old leather wallet got ruined).

He looked inside, and there were only a few coins. It didn't matter anyway; he didn't have any American money.

 

Xavier ate his sandwich and cookie, and then drank some water, and put everything back into his pack.

How long to get from Melbourne to New York? He wondered, and as he tried to figure it out, he realized he didn't really know how far away the two places were. He wished he had a map in his pack, but since he'd never predicted ever leaving Melbourne, let alone leaving Australia, he hadn't done so and only had a map of his city's streets (for when he was able to drive).

 

He zipped the backpack up, put it back on, and decided to see if there'd be some way to get into the main part of the plane, where the aliens were, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to be in the same area of them, considering that Fergusk wanted him dead. Besides, if he did anything, such as beat them up, he wouldn't get to New York-he might crash-land into New Zealand, or the Midwest, or, worst of all, right into the ocean. So he decided it might be best if he stayed in the back until they got into New York.

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

The flight from Melbourne to New York City was abnormally quiet as well as incredibly boring for all three passengers; Fergusk was too angry to really talk to Debuson, and Debuson was nervous about flying the plane.

 

Eventually, depsite her nervousness, Debuson flew rather well into a rural area just outside New York City. Xavier was fast asleep in the back, and had gone back to sleep in the trunk of the car (with the top open of course) to keep him from rolling around too much, and was woken up with a start when the plane landed.

 

"I sure slept a long time," He said, as he blinked a few times and sat up. He looked around, as if expecting to see something, and then gasped.

"If we've landed...then that means we're in New York! And that would mean I'm in America-I wonder how different it is from Australia?"

 

He wondered about this for a moment, until the plane rolled to a stop at wherever they had landed.

"They'll be coming in here soon," He said quietly, and he laid back down and shut the trunk just enough that there was still a crack in case he needed to get out.

Luckily, he was right about Fergusk & Debuson coming into the storage area to get the car; they were talking to each other about something.

 

"But how will we do it, Fergusk?" Debuson asked sheepishly. "Kill them, I mean."

They must be talking about that American girl, Xavier thought. And someone else. Her best friend, perhaps?

 

The aliens climbed into the car once it was taken out of the plane storage, as Xavier lay in the trunk in horrible anticipation. He desperately wanted to bust out of the trunk and go see what was in store in the new country, but knew he had to stay inside the trunk or else they'd find him, and he was genuinely frightened of Fergusk, despite knowing he could beat her.

 

The aliens drove into the city, where Xavier could hear many voices and cars and was unable to overhear the women talking-if they were. He could only imagine what it looked like outside, and he so desperately wanted to see, but continued to wait in the trunk.

 

He was pleasantly surprised when the car came to a screeching halt in a relatively quieter area. He wondered where they were, and heard the women get out and slam their doors shut. They talked to each other, but Xavier wasn't able to hear them, and his body froze when he felt light on his face and the trunk opened.

 

"Dear lord," Debuson said weakly. "He followed us all the way here."

Fergusk looked as though she was about to burst a vein. Xavier was personally too stunned to move.

"You goddamn little stowaway!"

"That's right," He muttered, and grabbed his pack and leapt out of the car, but realized he had absolutely no idea where to go, and then realized he was getting his first look of a new country, and that was enough for him to nearly forget he was utterly lost, away from his parents, had no money, as well as numerous other bad things that had come out of his stowing away.

 

"That's right, you have no idea where to go, do you?" Fergusk said, mocking him.

Xavier froze. He really didn't, and the reality of the matter crashed onto him like a ton of bricks: He was 16 years old, lost in an unfamiliar country (though he luckily spoke the language), where he had none of the money, knew nobody, and didn't know where to go. His mother was miles and miles away, and she had no idea where her son was-not to mention that Fergusk wanted him dead for reasons he didn't really understand.

 

"Debuson. Grab him, and make sure none of his little gadgets lets him escape. We can kill him along with that kid."

"Yes, sir," Debuson said, beat. She forced Xavier's hands behind his back, and dragged him along into a house.

 

Xavier knew he could reach into his pack and escape, but he wanted to meet this American girl so badly that he didn't, and decided it was better to fight them off when he got there. Fight them off, and call his mother, praying she would believe him.

 

Fergusk bust the door down, and ran inside, yelling Vedvacious' name.

"What's a Vedvacious?" Xavier whispered to Debuson. She seemed nice, or at least nicer than Fergusk.

"Vedvacious is a teacher," Debuson explained. "Clara is the girl Fergusk keeps talking about." She sighed.

"Ok," Xavier said, and then added "Thanks." Debuson said nothing, but sighed again.

 

Debuson shoved Xavier inside, where Fergusk had already rounded up Vedvacious and Clara Abbey and forced them into a corner. When he came in, Clara eyed Xavier, wondering who he was.

 

Debuson let go of Xavier and shut the door. Xavier ran over to where Clara was, mostly because he knew Fergusk would force him over there anyhow.

Clara looked over at him, and Vedvacious stared through the corner of her eyes.

"Fergusk, who is this?" Vedvacious demanded.

"A little stowaway from our short time in Australia," She said, sickened.

Clara looked over at him. Xavier returned the glance.

"Seeing as we're about to die, I guess we should exchange names," Xavier said quietly.

"Clara Abbey,"

"Xavier Flynn," He replied shakily.

"This is my teacher Vedvacious," Clara explained. "This is her house..."

"I see," Xavier said. Strung around Clara's waist was her laptop bag.

Fergusk glared at both the laptop bag and Xavier's pack.

 

"Why don't you two hand me your bags? Then you won't escape."

Clara clutched her laptop bag's strap, and Xavoer grabbed her arm. "No," He said bluntly, and unzipped his backpack and took out a long rod, covered in duct tape, and while you couldn't see, the edge of it was electrified.

 

"What is that?" Fergusk asked, backing away a bit. "That's exactly why I wanted you to hand me your bags."

"The person prod," Xavier said. He ran towards Fergusk, who was too slow to react and ended up with the electrical prod rammed into her chest.

"Get out!" Xavier yelled, whacking Fergusk with the rod, and poked her back until she was out.

"Don't make me prod you to your car and prod you out of the state, too," Xavier threatened, and Debuson hid behind Fergusk.

 

"Fine," Fergusk said. "We'll head for the capital, next."

Before Xavier could say anything, the door had been slammed shut and he heard their car zoom away.

 

He placed the person prod back into his pack and walked over to the two women. Vedvacious was laying on the couch and Clara sat on the floor. Xavier sat next to her, and smiled.

"You must be the one they were talking about," He said quietly.

Clara looked up at him. "I guess so."

Xavier looked at her for a moment, and then said, "She was right, though: both of you have a strange vibe."

Clara looked at him. "What do you mean? And how can you tell?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm considered a genius back home, so I think my mind is a little sensitive."

"I see," Clara said.

 

Xavier looked at her, and then at Vedvacious. "But I don't know what that vibe is for."

"Well, me and Ved both have...superpowers, I guess."

Xavier blinked. "Say again?"

"We both have powers. We're not sure where we got them. I guess yours must be your intelligence."

Xavier stared, dumbfounded. "Well, what...what do you two do?"

"I can travel through computers and summon Internet stuff to life. Vedvacious can travel time. She was originally living in Ancient Rome."

Xavier stared for a long time at the teacher, who was asleep and looked weary.

 

"So you came from Australia in Fergusk's car?" Clara asked, the two leaving Vedvacious alone to sleep as they walked into a backroom to talk.

"That's right," He said. "It...it was a spur of the moment thing. I'd chased her out of my school, and I latched onto the trunk of the car, and I just climbed into it...I didn't realize she was loading into a plane and flying all the way out here..."

He looked at the ground, sadly.

"Do you miss your parents or something?" She asked.

"Sort of. I'm more scared because I'm stuck in a country that I don't really know anything about. I don't know where to go or anything."

Clara hugged him. "It's alright."

"Not with that woman running around, it isn't; she's controlling some kids back at my school, too."

 

The two thought for a moment, and Xavier suddenly got an idea.

"If all three of us have that weird vibe...maybe I could build a sensor, or a computer, or something, that can detect other people with powers!"

Clara smiled. "That sounds good....but why?"

Xavier unzipped his backpack, and showed her some comic books he had stowed away. "It would be like a comic book. We'd have a team of super-teenagers, and we could fight Fergusk!"

"But she seems really weak," Clara said. "I defeated her easily, and it looks like you did too."

"If she's really an alien, then there may be a chance that she's still getting used to being a human. She may get stronger as she spends more time in that skin."

Clara thought for a moment. "I guess so."

"I'm not sure how I'll do it, but since you have Internet powers, perhaps you can help me!!"

"Alright," Clara said quietly. "Vedvacious has a big library/study with books from different eras. Let's go in there to work."

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

The two sat in the study for a little while, Clara's laptop open and Xavier's notebook opened, and they discussed how, exactly, they could build such a thing. They'd decided on a computer that could find other people with powers, by finding their 'vibration', and...well, they weren't sure what would happen from that point on. Would they go and find that person? Or contact them?

 

"I wonder what countries they'll be from," Xavier said, as he sketched some plans out.

"Well, I'm American and you're Australian; they might be everywhere and we don't know it."

Xavier laid his head on his arm, which rested on the table, and he scribbled on the paper a little bit. "I wonder where....what if they can't speak any English?"

"That's likely," She said, and sighed happily. "I can't wait. It'll be exciting meeting different people."

 

She looked at a clock. "It's getting late. Do you want to get to bed?"

"Not before I call my mother," He said, putting away his notebook and pencils.

Clara nodded. "I understand," And she left to go to bed.

 

Xavier walked into Vedvacious' living room, and found her house phone. He thought for a moment, and then dialed his mother's cell phone, hoping the long-distance call wouldn't hurt Vedvacious too much.

The phone rang a couple times, and he finally heard his mother's familiar voice.

"Hello?

"Mum?"

There was some silence, and then a startled "Xavier?"

"It's me, mum..."

"Xavier Matthew Flynn, where are you?"

He gulped. "Mum, this will sound strange, but I..."

 

He shakily explained the entire ?situation to her. Clara, who was in a guest bedroom, listened to him intently. He sounded as though he was going to cry any minute.

 

"...You have to believe me. If you can, look up the number I'm calling from, and you'll see it's an American phone number."

His mother sighed. "I see. To be honest I am not surprised."

Xavier was hurt by that, but realized it really wasn't surprising.

"Listen to me. You be careful. You get back to Melbourne as soon as you can. You realize that you're in that country illegally aren't you?"

"I should be fine, mum. I promise."

She sighed, and then she sniffed. Her voice sounded as though it was choking back tears. "Please stay safe..."

"I will, alright? Goodbye, mother."

She sniffed again. "Bye, Xavier."

 

He hung up the receiver and trudged to a different guestroom, though not before telling Clara he would be staying up to work on the computer.

"Are you sure? Won't you get tired?"

He smiled. "It's daylight back home. I'll probably be nocturnal for a little while until I fully get used to it here. Stupid timezones," He said quietly.

"Alright, then."

"Gih'night, Clara."

 

Xavier walked into the study with his backpack, and unzipped a pocket of his backpack that he had filled with spare parts in case he needed to make something on the go-a time such as now. He hoped he had enough parts in it, but then realized he'd probably only have just enough to add on to an existing computer.

 

"Clara?"

Clara rolled over on the bed. "Yea?"

"Sorry I woke you up, but...I don't think I have enough spare parts with me to build an entire new computer, only to add onto an existing one. Could I do that to your laptop?"

 

Xavier felt like a perfect idiot, asking someone he'd only just met if he could take apart their expensive hardware.

 

"Will it involve taking the laptop apart?"

"I think so," Xavier said.

She thought for a moment. "Go ahead," she said sleepily.

"Thank you," He said, and grabbed it out of her laptop bag and went back into the study.

 

He set the laptop on the desk where he worked, and wondered how he was to go about this. He sighed, and realized he would never get it done if he thought too much about it, and decided to simply get to work on it. That was how he best invented things.

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

Clara awoke the next morning, looked over, and saw the still-fully dressed Xavier sitting next to her in the bed, holding her laptop. She screamed, and nearly fell out of the bed before Xavier grabbed her and dragged her back up.

 

"What are you doing in my bed?"

"I'm not in it, I'm on the bed. Anyway, look at this."

He held the laptop in front of him and opened it up, as Clara reached for her glasses off the nightstand.

"How late did you work, Xavier?"

"Oh no, I'm not done. I've been up all night. I wasn't tired one bit, but just in case, I grabbed a soda from your friend's kitchen. Hope you don't mind," He said, and he grabbed a near-empty bottle of Coca-Cola and threw it in a trash bin by the bed.

"It's not as sweet-tasting as back home," He quipped, and then shook his head. "Anyway, look what I've got done so far."

 

He turned the laptop around and showed her the program he'd been working all night on.

On the screen was a large projection of the world, and a few settings on the bottom and side that only Xavier knew what were for.

"I'm not entirely sure what to do next," He said. "I need to get myself a good map-I was only able to install a regular map. I need to get borders, as well as cities, written into the program.

"Does it...work yet?"

"Sorta. Every time I test it out I get a different reading."

 

He leaned over, and, upside down, moved the laptop's mouse and clicked on a button.

A dozen small blue dots popped up on the map, and he pointed to three in the New York area of the US.

"See, that's us."

"That's amazing!" Clara said, and looked around at the map.

"But watch," He said, and clicked the button twice so the dots vanished, and then appeared again. Some where gone, and new ones where there.

"The dot in India suddenly disappeared," He said. "And one popped up in an island nation near Australia," He said, pointing.

"That's the Philipines," Clara said. "Look, there's suddenly one in China as well."

"What I want to do is make this real-time. See, when I turn the map on, the dot locations are from that exact moment. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go eat breakfast, and I'll work some more on this if I can. Perhaps I can make it so we can figure out where Fergusk is, as well."

 

The two left the room and walked into Vedvacious' kitchen, where the Roman was already up and cooking for them.

"Good morning, Ved," Clara said, sitting down. Xavier sat next to her with the laptop.

"Good morning," Vedvacious said. She looked at Xavier intently.

"What's the laptop for, Xavier?"

"See for yourself," He said, and showed to her what he'd shown to Clara.

"I see," Vedvacious said cooly after he explained.

"I just have to perfect it a little, I think," Xavier said.

"The real question is what we'll do with those little dots," Vedvacious said. "Do we come to them? Have them come to us?"

"I don't know. Clara can go through computers, so she might be able to get ahold of them that way."

"Well, we'll have to think about it, and perhaps just see what works best."

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

Clara decided that since there was no school, she ought to take Xavier into New York City-but only after he mentioned it.

 

"This is New York, isn't it?"

Clara nodded, wondering why he'd asked,

"How far away is New York City?"

Clara smiled at him and showed him to the window. "I live in Brooklyn. New York city is pretty much the town next door."

"I thought Brooklyn was a part of the city?"

"Not at all."

"Could...could you take me into the city, if it isn't too much trouble?"

Clara looked at him for a moment. "I could, but...what in the world would we do there?"

"I just want to look. Maybe we could eat there, as well."

Is this a date? Clara wondered, and shook the thought out of her mind. He'd only just met her, and he was just satisfying his own curiosity.

 

"Alright. I've got some money with me, from my last birthday, probably just enough for a taxi into the city and to get us something cheap to eat. Maybe a hot dog."

"What about pizza? You can't go to New York City and not eat that."

"And why not?"

Xavier strained for something to say. "Because!" He said, waving his arms about.

"Well, there's plenty of that in the city. There's more Italians than you could shake a stick at."

"And I wouldn't shake a stick at any Italian."

The two were quiet for a moment.

"I wish I could help you with paying. But not only do I not have any money, but if I did it would only be Australian money."

"It's fine, really."

The Australian said nothing for a moment, and then smirked and said "Fine, then!"

Clara stood up, and shouted at Vedvacious that they were going into the City because Xavier wanted to. Vedvacious said she had some teacher stuff to attend to at the school, so she couldn't accompany them, and the two went on their way.

 

"Are you sure you wanna bring your backpack with you?" Clara asked as they exited the house. Xavier adjusted the straps on the pack and nodded.

"I don't go anywhere without it-I may need it," He said. "I mean, it's probably the one thing that helped me live when I stowed away in that alien's car."

"And how so?" Clara asked, laughing, as they began walking.

"It makes a good pillow," Xavier said indignantly. "All my gadgets are in here. My mom also put my coat and a lot of food in here for me just in case."

Xavier looked at the ground for a moment and was about to say something, and Clara shushed him.

"I know what you want to say, and we're not eating any of your emergency food in the city."

"I wasn't going to say that," Xavier lied sarcastically. "Besides, who wants to eat a can of tuna in New York City?"

"Ew, you like fish?"

"A little. I live by the sea, you know, so there's a lot of fish and mum's glad that I like it. But I prefer Pineapples. I can't get them very much."

"You can get a lot of them here," Clara quipped.

"Well yeah, your country is near all those tropical islands and such where pineapples are, aren't you?"

"You mean countries like Cuba and the places in South America like Brazil?"

Xavier nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so. There's a lot of South Americans living in the city as well, and like the Italians, a lot of them open restaurants. Maybe one has lots of pineapple food."

 

Xavier nearly drooled at the thought of a restaurant with lots of pineapple things, but stopped himself. "No. I want a pizza or hot dog when we get there."

"Pizza sounds good, you could get pineapple on that!"

Xavier smiled and ran ahead of her. "That sounds incredible! I can't wait!"

"And I know the perfect place, too!!"

Xavier ran back to her, and was jumping excitedly. "This'll be great. I've seen pictures of New York City in a book before. Can we see the Empire State Building?"

"Whyever would you want to see that?"

"And why wouldn't you?"

"I went there once as a kid. There were long lines, annoying tourists...it was awful."

"But it's such a massive and impressive building."

"I think the Sydney Opera House is much more impressive," Clara said, and Xavier stopped.

 

"I've never seen the Sydney Opera House, Clara," He said sternly. "Because I'm not from Sydney. I'm from Melbourne."

Clara apologized quietly.

"It's alright. I've always wanted to see the Opera House, too." He said softly.

 

When Clara and Xavier got out of the housing area of Brooklyn, and into the city part, Clara decided it was best if they caught a cab near the Brooklyn Bridge. That way, they would pay less.

"Are you into architecture, Xavier?" Clara asked.

"I like building things, so buildings are interesting to me."

Clara stood by the road and tried to hail a cab, with two passing by before she caught one.

 

The cab driver, an older man from somewhere in the Middle East reached back and opened up the door for them, and Xavier quickly went inside with fascination.

"Can you take my friend and I into the city?" Clara asked, and the driver nodded. Clara climbed in.

"Anywhere in particular?" the man asked, in a bright voice and an accent placing him from, as Clara thought, Egypt; Xavier thought India.

Clara looked at Xavier, who thought for a moment and then said loudly, "Times Square?"

Of course, Clara thought. The foreigners always love Times Square. Then again, I couldn't blame them.

 

The driver nodded, and began to drive across the bridge. Clara looked out the window of the cab onto the water, and Xavier practically had his face pressed against the window.

"Xavier, don't you live by the ocean?" Clara asked. "Why is the water so amazing to you?"

"Not the water. The city," he said. "Look at those skyscrapers."

Xavier looked out at the sitting, which slowly appeared out of some mist. He turned to Clara and clutched her arm desperately.

"Along with Times Square and the Empire State Building...could we possibly see Central Park?"

"Xavier, unless we spend all today and all tomorrow walking, we can't get to those places without a cab. And we don't have enough money for all those cabs. And you won't want to take the subway, either."

"No, I don't," Xavier said. "If I did I wouldn't see anything."

"I myself don't like taking the subway whenever I have to be in the city. It's a bit creepy, it's stressful, and gross, and everyone looks so sad on it. And there's lots of homeless people."

"I've heard the metros in Europe are much nicer," Xavier said. "Though, they're probably still creepy and a little bit sad."

 

The cab crossed over the bridge into New York City, and continued driving through, with Xavier looking fascinated the whole way.

 

Eventually the cab reached Times Square, where, after Clara paid the cab driver and thanked him, Xavier nearly got run over as he looked around.

"Xavier, get out of the road before you ogle," Clara whispered, and dragged him over to a small pavillion with chairs and tables, and a few stands selling food. Thousands of people spilled through, and up above them were dozens of bright, flashy posters and TV screens, which Xavier sat down and stared at.

 

After some time, Clara tapped his shoulder and asked if he was alright.

"I...Clara, I don't really want to go to the Empire State Building anymore. Can we just stay here?"

"That's fine by me," She laughed.

 

Xavier pointed. "Is that the ball that drops on New Year's Eve?"

"Yea."

"Wow," He said, and looked around some more.

"Listen to that," Clara said. "I'm hearing more foreign languages than I am English."

Xavier suddenly sat up. "Clara! That's it! I know how to get all those other teenagers here!!"

"How?"

"A convention of sorts. Here in Times Square. Lots of foreigners seem to like this place! We'd send them invitations saying that an unofficial and very secret convention is being held in Times Square, New York, on some day, just for people with superpowers. Most of them should show up!!"

Clara looked at him, and smiled wide. "Perfect," She said. "When we get back, we have to tell Vedvacious. She's picking us up, by the way."

"Thanks, genius ideas is what I do," Xavier said proudly. "How about a pizza?"

"Sounds good. We can eat it on this pavillion if you want."

"And why would I want to eat inside, when I could sit and look at this?"

"It's even better at night, as you can imagine."

"We should hold the convention at nighttime, then!"

Clara nodded. "That sounds fine."

 

The two got up, with Xavier leaving his secured (via a little gadget he'd built) backpack to guard their chairs, as Clara purchased two slices of pizza for them from a small pizza place nearby.

 

"Did you bring your laptop?" Clara asked, as Xavier munched on a piece of pineapple-topped cheese pizza. They were sharing a no-ice Coke.

Xavier nodded, and reached inside his backpack and grabbed it, as well as a small, odd-looking camera.

"I'm going to take some pictures," Xavier said, moving around in his seat so he didn't miss a single poster or TV ad in Times Square.

 

He hung the camera around his neck, and he opened up his laptop. The program was still open.

"You should probably make a note of any dots that appear," Clara said. "Since some of them disappear."

"Probably," Xavier said. "I'm going to look over the code now. Editing it so it's real-time shouldn't be the hardest thing ever. I could probably also include a tracking system to it takes note of all the dots that appear."

 

He turned the program on, with the code in a separate window, and looked at all the dots that appeared, and showed it to Clara.

"There's one in Canada," She said. "And another in Cuba."

She looked over, and saw a jumble of dots across Europe, and a scattering of them across Asia.

"The Chinese one is gone again," She said. "But I can see dots in Japan, South Korea, Russia, Great Britain...."

"It seems most of them are in Europe," Xavier interrupted. "There's only one in South America. There, in Brazil." He pointed.

Clara nodded. "This is strange-there's one at the top right corner of Africa, and one at the bottom left corner. You'd think there'd be more in Africa and China."

"There's two in Italy. That's the only one, aside from America, that had more than one dot. And I don't think I count, since I'm Australian." Xavier said, motioning.

"There's none in the Middle East," Clara sighed.

"I don't know," Xavier said, as he edited the program a little bit.

 

"What are you doing with it?" She asked him, and he looked over the edge of the laptop.

"I'm entering in a code that will add cities and country borders," He explained. "After I do, I'll get to coding in the real-time feature, and then I'll list all the dots I can and send out the message about the convention.

 

Both of them were excited about this. "It'll be great meeting other people," Clara said. "Other kids, our age, from around the world!"

"Well Clara, the chance that they're all our age is pretty small," Xavier said. "It'd be interesting it even the majority of them were our age."

"Even so," Clara said, "It'll be interesting."

 

Xavier gulped down his pizza, much to Clara's amazement.

"What is it?" He asked, as she stared at him. She shook her head.

"Sorry, I've never seen anyone eat like that before."

"I get that a lot," He said. "When's your teacher s'posed to pick us up?"

Clara looked at her watch. "Soon enough," She said. "We'll tell her our idea, and then we can formulate it a little more."

"I've still got to work on the programming a bit," He said.

 

Clara stared at him. "Aren't you tired at all?"

"No, why?"

Clara stared at him. "Maybe that's your power-not requiring sleep for long periods of time."

Xavier laughed. "Perhaps! I almost never need sleep."

 

Xavier shivered as he finished talking.

"Are you alright?" Clara asked.

"Yeah," He said, clutching the sides of his shirt. "It's just that it's spring back home, and it's so cold here..."

"Did you bring a coat?" Clara asked.

"I think I shoved my lab coat into my backpack yesterday morning..."

"We can check when we get back," She said. "If you don't have it, I'm sure we could get you another."

 

 

 

The two discussed some more about the program, and eventually began discussing their homes as they waited for Vedvacious to pick them up.

 

"I guess you wouldn't know, but how different is America from Australia?" Xavier asked her, intensely curious.

"I think I should be asking you how different Australia is," She said, laughing.

Xavier leaned his head on his hand, looking around at the lights again. "Well, I...It's not quite so crowded, yeah?"

"I'll bet," Clara said.

"Not so many people live in Australia."

"I knew that," She said. "Because most of it is so hot?"

He nodded. "That's right." He thought a little longer. "The way Americans talk is a little different."

"Well, you have the accent, but the way you talk in general...it isn't that different. A lot of people here think Australians speak something almost completely different."

"I don't use much slang," Xavier said. "Seems like you don't, either."

"Not particularly," She said. "It just seems pointless to me."

"But the way we talk aside-" Xavier said, "Not a whole lot is different."

Clara leaned back in her chair. "I really love coming up here. Being in the city is like being in a different country. Especially because there's so many foreigners here."

"Yeah," Xavier sighed.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

Later, Vedvacious had picked up the two teenagers, and when they got back to the house, Xavier continued working on his program.

"Hey, Clara?" Xavier said, as the sun set outside. The girl walked into the room where the Australian was working.

"What is it?"

"Where are your parents?"

Clara walked into the room, and sat on the bed.

"Mine are divorced-"

"Mine, too," Xavier interrupted.

"My dad lives in a different state with my stepmom. I almost never see him."

"What state?" Xavier asked.

"Arizona," Clara said.

"I see. That's awfully far."

"I know. As for mom, she works in the city a lot. I'm usually staying the night at Vedvacious' house because I hate being home alone."

"I see," Xavier whispered. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I like staying the night here."

"Me too," Xavier said. "Well, I'm almost done with this. Are you going to sleep?"

"Yeah...do you think you'll have it up and running tomorrow?"

"It's practically up and running now," Xavier said happily. "But tomorrow we can accurately spot where the others are, and we can work on the invitations to this Superpower Convention."

"Sounds good," Clara said. "Good night, Xavier. You should really get some sleep, too-this'll be your second night up."

"Alright, alright," Xavier laughed. "G'night."

 

 

Chapter 4, pt. 2

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

The next day, Clara woke up, looked to see if Xavier was sitting on her bed again, and didn't see him.

"I wonder how much he got done last night?" she wondered, and climbed out of bed to go check on him.

 

When she walked into the guest bedroom, Xavier was slumped next to the open laptop, sleeping, and she gently shook him.

"Huh?" He said sleepily, slightly opening his eyes, closing them again, and then rolling his head. "I guess I fell asleep working, yeah?"

"Looks like it," Clara said. "Do you need to go back to sleep?"

"I don't know," He said sleepily. He tried lifting his head, but it fell back down again.

 

"Yeah, I need to go back. But I finished the program..." He said, as his eyes kept falling.

"Alright. You sleep there, I'll look at it. I won't mess it up, promise."

"You do that.." Xavier mumbled, and went back to sleep.

 

Clara carefully grabbed his laptop and went into the living room with it, and saw that Vedvacious was up making breakfast for the two of them.

"Ved, Xavier says he finished his program. But I don't think I can work the thing by myself."

"Can't he help you?"

"He's asleep. He stayed up two nights in a row."

Vedvacious nodded, and went back to making breakfast.

 

Clara sat down on the couch and lightly touched the laptop's mouse, causing the black screen to light up. The program was already opened, and while it was improved from the day before, Clara couldn't really tell that well. She wondered if she would understand it a little better if she went inside the computer, but decided against it.

 

"Maybe there's a guide," She murmured, and clicked around at some of the options. She searched around, and eventually found a 'help' tab, and clicked on it.

 

What came up was a small guide, written by Xavier (she could tell just by the way it was written-she couldn't help but read it in his voice). It was in simple language, and she wished more help guides were like it.

 

"Alright," She said, after skimming through it. "I think I can figure this out."

She clicked a button, and instantly many small dots appeared on the screen. A few of the dots were moving around-those people must have been riding in a car, or train, or maybe even a boat or plane. The dot that was in India continued to flash, appearing and disappearing.

 

The map itself was improved-like he had said, he'd included outlines so you could clearly see countries now, and if you scrolled over you could see the name of the country. If you clicked, you could see major cities.

 

She began by scrolling over the dots in order to see where the others lived, starting with areas nearest to America.

Canada, She thought, eying the blue dot that was roughly in the middle of the country. She scrolled and clicked on the map, discovering that the dot was in Saskatchewan. She didn't know anything about that province, only about Newfoundland, Ontario, and Quebec. She decided to see what city it was in.

 

That can't be right, She said, clicking and scrolling. The dot doesn't live in any town. Are they living out in the woods? Or the country? Or what?

 

That complicated matters a bit. If they didn't live in a town, then there were two possibilities: either they farmed, or they were just a Canadian version of country folk who only went into town to get supplies. Either way, they wouldn't get the invitation for the convention right away.

Perhaps we could set the date for next month, Clara thought. Perhaps they'll have had to go into town by then.

 

Clara put that worry away for later, and decided it would be best to discuss it with both Vedvacious and Xavier, and moved on to the next dot, which was near Florida.

That's Cuba, She thought. Cubans don't like Americans, do they? It'll be hard to talk with whoever this person is...

 

Clara continued down the list, and made a list of where all the dots where-and included her and Xavier:

 

New York City, United States

Melbourne, Australia

Unknown location, Saskatchewan, Canada

Havana, Cuba

Berlin, Germany

Moscow, Russia

Coventry, England, the UK

Seoul, South Korea

Versailles, France

Oslo, Norway

Adra, Estonia

Pori, Finland

Siracusa, Italy

Athens, Greece

Tokyo, Japan

Beijing, China

Cairo, Egypt

Reyjavik, Iceland

Budapest, Hungary

Rio de Janiero, Brazil

New Delhi, India

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Durban, South Africa

Vilinius, Lithuania

Batangas, The Philippines

Jerusalem, Israel

Sevastopol, Ukraine

Dese, Ethiopia

Udon Thani, Thailand

Adana, Turkey

Palikir, Micronesia

 

 

"That's a lot of people," Clara said quietly. "But, I guess it is all the ones in the world, so..." Her train of thought didn't go anywhere from there.

 

Clara ran her fingers through her hair. "I have to make posters in the proper languages for all these places," She said, and tried to think. She decided it was best to write the languages next to the countries, starting with what she knew, and then filling in the blanks with some research.

 

 

"This'll be difficult," Clara said, a little sadly. She'd studied some Spanish and French for school, and felt that was good enough to make a flyer for their convention. But for the others....she didn't want to use an online translator, because she knew that would cause problems. Then an idea struck.

 

"I'm sure at least one person from all of these countries lives in the city," She said. "Perhaps I can hire them to...no, then they would know about the convention." She slumped in her chair. "There goes the only idea I had."

 

She sat and thought for a little while longer, and eventually realized she would have to have some help; she felt weak realizing this, but decided that perhaps Vedvacious knew a little something about other languages-something Clara didn't.

 

Vedvacious was still in the house, doing a bit of reading in her library in order to learn more about possible countries that the others would be coming from.

 

"Ved?" Clara said, peeking into the library. The Roman looked up slightly. "I need some help."

Vedvacious shut her book and walked over to Clara. "What is it?"

"I found out where all the other...heroes, I guess, are. But I have no idea how to make invitations for them to find. I thought of getting some foreigners in the city to translated for me, but then other people would know and we have to keep this a secret. I also don't know how to distribute the posters."

"Clara, you're good with the Internet. Why not go to Google Earth, or whatever you want, and find where they are, and send a flyer to those houses?"

"I didn't think of that," She said.

"And why not just use some reliable translation online?"

"Well, Ved, I was thinking, since you're from the Roman Empire, you might know something about other languages."

"I can speak Italian," She said. "I know a bit of French & Spanish, as well."

"Well, that's five posters done, then. I'll do the ones for England, and both of us have to make the Canada one." She would also have to make English for a Micronesian poster, but didn't know that.

 

"Well, I'm sure there's some reliable translators online," Said Vedvacious. "Do you want me to help you?"

"I think I can handle it. Why don't you get to work on the Italian, French, and Spanish posters?"

"I will."

"Alright. Thank you, Ved."

 

Clara went back to her computer and began to look at the addresses of the locations, despite how she felt; that is, feeling as though she was snooping around in other people's lives, but knew she had to do this. Even as she worked she knew that somewhere in the world Fergusk & Debuson were taking over the minds of some students. As she worked, she wondered if they would have to fight those students, and realized that if she did, she may not be able to.

 

She decided she would have to wait until she dealt with whatever the two aliens would send to her to fight.

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

Hours later, Xavier finally awoke, rather late in the day, and stumbled into the room where Clara was working.

"What're you doing?" Xavier slurs. "I need a coffee..."

"Dude, it's 5 in the afternoon."

"I need a coffee," He repeated, and Clara, sighing, got up and made him a mug of coffee.

 

Xavier sat down in the chair next to the laptop, and stared sleepily at the screen. The program wasn't up, but rather, several browsers open to online translators and a text processor to write up posters. The same text, over and over, in various languages, were onscreen.

 

"Here you go," Clara said, handing the mug to Xavier. The Australian gladly took it, took a few sips, and sighed. "That's better. What are you working on, anyway?"

"Invitations," She said. "Also, we've run into a small problem. A lot of these people live in remoter locations than I expected." She wouldn't admit it, but since she was from New York, and Xavier was from Melbourne, she half-expected them all to live in big cities, or even the capitals. After some research, she learned that not only did the Canadian live in the middle of nowhere, but others-like the Turk, Estonian, and the Thai-lived in smaller towns. She continued. "And so we're gonna mail them to the houses."

"I thought that was what we were doing in the first place," Xavier said. "We can't just fly to the countries and post flyers in public." At this, Clara just felt stupid.

 

"Do you wanna help me?" Clara asked. "Ved is helping with French, Italian, and Spanish."

"You go to New York City a lot," Xavier said. "Wouldn't you know a bit about other languages from your experiences?"

Clara thought for a moment. "I've made friends with a few restaurant owners, and they sometimes speak in Italian or Portuguese or whatever, so I've learned a handful of words."

"Back in Melbourne, I had a friend from Singapore who spoke Chinese. I picked up a little from him."

"Writing, too?" Clara said.

"No," Xavier said sadly. "But speaking. There's a Chinese person from Beijing, right? They probably read both Chinese and that romanized Chinese script."

"Pinyin," Clara said.

"Yeah, that. We can put it in both of those."

 

The two discussed it a bit more. Altogether, Vedvacious could do Italian, French, and Spanish, and thanks to her Spanish knowledge she could possibly do Portuguese. Clara could do English, German thanks to school, and a few things on other posters thanks to experiences in the city. Xavier could do English and some Chinese.

 

The two worked for a while, and later Vedvacious joined them to help, and all three stayed up for some time to make those invitations. Clara, though she didn't like it, found the addresses of every dot on the map, and the three helped her seal them in envelopes. Vedvacious had many stamps (she preferred sending letters to students rather than e-mails), so they put stamps on the invitations, and the next day sent them out to the world.

[Horatio]

[ Amazing, utterly amazing! You are such a talented writer!!! Thank you so much!!!

*gives Mushroom_king a basket full of fresh baked cookiefins as a token of appreciation for this wonderful addition to the story* ]