Player is Waiting... (Ultimate Clan Wars)

by Wells, JB

  Dexter lie still in the corner, and Isabelle crawled her way over to him. Ex growled loudly as he rattled his body trying to free himself.

  “I wouldn’t bother, Sergeant!” Adam laughed, and with a flick of the wrist Olivia was ripped from the wall and thrown across the room.

  “Adam!” Ex growled and broke one arm free.

  Adam laughed again, and turned to Kieran. His hand flapped at his side and the rubble from the broken pillar lifted as it flew towards Ex.

  “Stop!” Kieran was angry and his hands began to tingle again. He felt a sudden happiness, with his power he knew he could get his friends out of there. He looked down and saw his restricted hands shining like a beacon in the dark.

  “Excellent,” Adam looked so satisfied with himself. “I wondered how long it would take for you to bring out my powers.” The bricks fell short of crushing Ex to a pulp.

  “What?” Kieran panicked, he had walked straight into the trap Adam had set. Pied-Piper had planned this so very well. “No, no!” Kieran growled, he shook his hands and tried with pure desperation to make the power hide back inside. It was no use, the pulse was surging through and the force was too strong.

  “Time to take back what is mine.” Adam placed both his hands on Kieran’s inactive chest plate. The light that Kieran had created broke out of his body, it was blindingly bright. Isabelle covered Dexter from the glow and Owen placed his arms over his face.

  “Don’t fight it Kieran, just hand back what you took.”

  “Arrgh!” Kieran yelled. The pain was strong, his body shook and every inch of him pulsated like a hurricane was trying to escape.

  “Yes, I can feel it already. The ultimate power is almost mine.” Adam’s voice split into two evil voices that spoke as one. He pulled away from Kieran and staggered backwards. His armour started to mutate, spikes erupted from his shoulders, arms and helmet. His boots grew big claw shaped spikes on the back and long blades formed from the wrists of his armour.

  Kieran was weak, with his body still crushed against the wall, and all he could do was watch helplessly as Adam levelled up. Everything about him became darker and more evil.

  “The power is good,” he laughed villainously. Lifting his arms he inspected his new armour with pride. “Now, for the rest. If I don’t lock in all of The Locator binary it will drain away and you will restore.”

  Kieran shook his head, the pain was immense. “I can’t.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be well placed in my army. Gimsbub, my faithful servant, will place you with the generals.” Adam shuddered and cricked his neck. He placed his hands back on Kieran.

  The light erupted once again, his yells echoed around the room. With every percentage Adam took, Kieran watched him change. There wasn’t much left, he could feel the last few ounces of power starting to leave his body, when Adam stopped. His face frozen in shock and he lurched backwards like he had been winded.

  “What have you done” Adam snarled, he turned to see Owen standing behind him. “What have you done?”

  Kieran could see the recovery agents slowly eating through Adam. His body was starting to disappear. Adam used what force he had left to throw Owen aside. He spun around and tried to place his hands back on Kieran but they were disappearing like dust. “No, not now!” Adam tried brushing the agents off.

  “You will be returned!” Kieran called, the restraints had all disappeared and he moved sluggishly off the wall. “We will be taking you back.”

  “No you won’t, you will never stop me.” Adam looked worried and in pain. Gimsbub had appeared in the doorway. Adam saw him and simply nodded with a look of clarity. “This will never stop.”

  Kieran moved forward to the half disappeared cadet that had lost his way, “Come back with us.”

  Adam edged towards the hole, “Never. I will find you!”

  “What?”

  Adam threw himself backwards into the hole, Kieran ran to grab him but as he looked down he saw the tail end of the time ripple fading into the background. “Damn it!”

  “It’s over,” Isabelle called, “look.”

  Kieran looked up and saw the pod, with Alfie in, had gone. He ran to the window and watched as hundreds of infected fell to the ground, each of their host faces smiling with relief. Kieran kicked the chair and ran to Owen to help him up. “We could have taken him back and stopped all of this!” Something moved in the corner of the room, “Stop!” he shouted but it was too late Gimsbub jumped through a portal, and he was gone.

  “Is it over?” Owen asked in a daze.

  “For now” Kieran replied helping him hobble out of the castle.

  Ex lifted Olivia and helped her to walk, “You wait till I get my hands on him,” he growled. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, can we go home?” she asked.

  “What about Gimsbub?” Dexter coughed holding his side and Isabelle. “He wasn’t linked to Adam, was he?”

  “So, he was one of the others out there, in the world?” Isabelle looked shocked.

  Kieran placed his free arm around her, and the six of them stood at the edge of Devils point. The river still ran but the creatures had gone. Thousands of cadets picked themselves up and looked around in shock as the scene became one of calm.

  The wind lapped around them and the sun rose warming their faces as they stood on the perilous point. Kieran took a deep breath and sighed. “They are all out there. Adam is still out there somewhere.”

  33

  “Confirmed ready?”

  “Confirmed ready.”

  “Download in 5…4…3…”

  “Welcome back, cadet,” Gracie smiled down at Kieran.

  “H…” Kieran’s throat was dry, his head hurt and he was slightly dazed.

  “Don’t talk 191, drink this and I mean all of it.” Gracie handed over a glass of water, behind it sat two full jugs. “You need to drink it all, you will be very dehydrated.”

  “How long was I in there?” Kieran had polished off two glasses of water in the space of a minute. His stomach wasn’t used to the water so he felt a little sick.

  “You’ve been in Plantranet for a little over two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” Kieran squealed. “Is that even possible?”

  Gracie nodded, “We couldn’t get you out. We just had to wait.”

  Kieran left the chair and tried standing. His legs were a little weak. “How can we have been in there two weeks? It felt like no time at all.”

  “There is no time in Plantranet, everything stands still.”

  Kieran looked around. They were not in the arena. “Where are we?” The room was dark, and there were only thirty chairs all perfectly lined up.

  “This is the Invirtuwear Repository.”

  “Kiwi?” Owen called, his legs shaking as he made his way along the line of chairs. “Two weeks, we’ve been in there for two weeks?”

  “I am desperate for the loo!” Isabelle called.

  “So am I. Women and children first, and I am a child!” Dexter called running with all his might to the toilets.

  Kieran laughed and drank his last glass of water, his head instantly feeling better.

  The group left the Repository and found themselves in the arena. Ex was hovering outside the door, he smiled with relief. “You are wanted in Alpha One’s office.”

  “Now?” Dexter asked rubbing his empty stomach.

  “Now.”

  The cadets staggered their way out of the arena and into main control. Along the way many cadets smiled and cheered when they saw them. Main Control almost came to a standstill. Megan stood and clapped and the rest of the room followed, erupting in applause.

  A group walked past and smiled at Owen. “He is so brick,” one of the girls called.

  “I told you, I said it would catch on!” Owen jumped into the air and landed on Dexter’s shoulders. “You all took the mickey and I told you so!”

  “We’re famous,” Dexter grinned and high fived cadets he’d never even spoken to. Owe
n was shaking hands and Isabelle was waving at everyone.

  “Attention!”

  Everybody silenced themselves and stood to attention, Alpha One was out of his office and standing at the top of the stairs.

  “My office, now, cadets.”

  Kieran ran up the stairs quickly, his friends following behind.

  Alpha One was sitting behind his grand white desk. Behind him stood Ex, whose face still showed light bruising from transference and General Walker.

  “Congratulations on your time in Plantranet. Firstly I want to apologise for the trap that you were led into 191, but you did us proud and you saved all of the soldiers on The Wall. Secondly, I wish to praise you all on your efforts on working as a team within Plantranet. It wasn’t easy and we watched you most of the way. We assumed you were MIA until Cyberus alerted us to your whereabouts. You have given us access to a lot more of what Adam has created and we are currently clearing up any residue he may have left behind.”

  “Sir, he’s not gone.”

  “We know.” Alpha One looked at Ex. “We understand he escaped through the time ripple.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “It will take him quite a while to repair himself, and his worlds.”

  “He wasn’t alone sir,” Isabelle interrupted. “He had help, he told us about the others on the outside.”

  “Yes. We have suspected for some time that he was not alone. But that is not for you to worry about.” Alpha One stood and walked around to the front of his desk. He perched on the edge and became softer and a lot more approachable.

  General Walker, who was standing behind, looked angry. He tried not to look at Kieran but when he did, he looked like he wanted to jump across the desk and strangle him.

  Kieran could barely drag his eyes away from the General. “Sir, who is Gimsbub?”

  Alpha One laughed which took most of the people in the room by surprise, and Ex seemed to flex his knuckles. “There was a game that Adam created in his first year. He called it Gimsbub’s Revenge. It was about a goat that wanted to escape the farm. It simply jumped over any animal that blocked its path. It was a rather primitive game in relation to what we deal with here. He created it in his first week. From there on, he learnt at a fast rate.”

  “That was who escaped sir, he called him Gimsbub. He jumped through a portal before we could follow him. He didn’t return when Adam was damaged.”

  “We will find him. Thanks to you, all of you, we now have a chance to claim back the worlds that Adam created. It will be a long task and not an easy one, but now we have a chance.”

  Dexter beamed and nudged Owen, “See, we are heroes.”

  “Yes,” Alpha One stood, “you are. Thanks to you, nearly forty thousand taken have been returned to the UK and more overseas. To them it will be just a distant dream, his army has been disbanded.”

  “Oh no,” Dexter pretended he was upset. “We’ve missed the GEST exams.”

  “Don’t worry cadet, they were cancelled. Should you be offered a scholarship, you will have to sit them.”

  Every time Kieran blinked, he could see the faces of the returning people. It was like a collage of pictures he couldn’t stop. “I saw their faces, when they returned I could see who they were before.”

  “Interesting. Ex, can we inform Wing of this?”

  “Sir.”

  “Cadet Best, Sir, is he okay?” Isabelle asked.

  “Cadet Best was safely downloaded a day ago. We knew something wasn’t right and that is why Officer Seal and Sergeant Ex were sent in. I was able to communicate with Cyberus.” General Walker seemed to snort at what Alpha One was saying. “On my command of course,” he reiterated to the General. “But, he could see what was happening and sent a signal through to Professor Wing. The professor understood the message and brought Cadet Best back. With some TLC from Dr Satchell, he was…somewhat normal within hours.

  “I’m glad all the pleasantries are in hand, I don’t think I need to be here to watch the eternal praise being given.” General Walker exerted with annoyance.

  “Okay cadets, you have made it home just in time for dinner. Head down to the canteen for some food, and then it is lights out as normal.”

  “Yes sir, thank you.” Isabelle had taken charge and pulled the boys out of the room.

  “Kealey?”

  “Sir?”

  “The allegation against you has been dropped. Footage of the incident has been brought to light, and Cadet Walker has reassessed the events of that night. You will return to normal duties and you are able to re-join your Intracell clan.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Kieran caught General Walker’s face, it was one of thunder.

  “Okay, we’ll go get some dinner.” Isabelle pulled Kieran backwards out of the room.

  “Did you see his face?” Owen laughed and they descended the stairs.

  “Why do you think I pulled him out, I thought he was going to jump across the table at him.”

  34

  The heat under the dome was warm, the creatures still scurried around whilst all the cadets sat looking at the stage. Each Hunter, Medic and TakeDown symbol shining proudly in their groupings. Every uniform had been cleaned within an inch of its life, badges shone and caps sat perfectly on every head. The Guiders were at the side on a special platform. Chloe and Thomas had been tasked to give a speech on the last few days of the war, and what the work of the cadets meant. Once all the speeches had been given, Alpha One made his way to the stage.

  “To the new cadets of the Institute, I want to say congratulations and well done. You have shown the world what you can do. Although your friends and family will never know what it is you do here, they will forever hold a gratitude for what you have done for them. This summer every cadet within this confinement has played a part in saving the world. Working alongside the Institutes around the world, you have come together in a time of crisis. We have won the battle, but the war is far from over. You are the Elite, you are the best. You are now a part of The Ultimate Clan war.” All one thousand cadets and fifteen hundred staff applauded Alpha One.

  Sergeant Ex approached the microphone. He spoke out to everyone with pride in his voice, occasionally his eyes finding Kieran and his friends. “Will the following cadets please come to the stage to level up.” Forty Five of the first year cadets approached the stage, followed by one hundred other cadets. Kieran and his friends looked at each other confused.

  “Did we not earn enough?” Owen asked worried.

  “Would Hunters 191, 239, 301, 665 and Guider 919 please come up.”

  Dexter puffed out his cheeks. “For a minute then I thought we were forgotten.”

  “Who could forget you?” Isabelle laughed.

  Kieran walked up first, his friends pushing him into the lead. Each of the cadets lined up,

  “191 for valour and bravery, you are now a soldier.” Ex smiled and pressed Kieran’s Holobadge. On Kieran’s shoulder appeared a stripe and next to it an arrow, earning him the new gaming title Soldier. “You have earned your stripe and arrow with pride. Without your resilience and bravery, many soldiers would have been lost. We also commend your valiant effort to rescue our cadets from around the world.”

  “239, you are now a soldier. For defending your team in times of trouble and never leaving their side, we proudly level you up.” Sergeant Ex pressed Isabelle’s Holobadge and her stripe and arrow appeared on her shoulder. Next, Ex moved onto Dexter who was beaming and had his badge stuck out ready for his award. “301 you are also levelling up to a soldier. For leading your team, when no one else was there. You have shown new courage and leadership skills, you should be proud.” At the end of the group stood Thomas, he was scratching his curly mop of hair. “Guider 919 you are now Guider of the Second Order. You stayed with lost soldiers and refused shift change, you give true meaning to bringing all of our own home safely. A Guider of the Second Order will accompany any cadet into Plantranet and you will now have your own Rewdy.” Thomas stopped scratching a
nd held his head high.

  “Thank you, sir.” Thomas’s badge now showed two rings intersecting each other. A Rewdy was passed to him and he protectively held it under his arm.

  “Cadet 665 you have definitely earned the title soldier, you battled the odds and helped us win this leg of the war. You administered the blow that rendered Adam incomplete data. Your efforts brought home the Taken, with that you are also awarded The Cadet of War title.”

  “Me?” Owen muttered.

  “Way to go Ziggy!” Kieran whooped and clapped.

  Ex turned to the audience, “The new soldiers for 2014.”

  The crowd applauded again.

  “Clan of the Summer, Hunters!” Ex shouted with pride, after all that was his clan.

  Kieran and his friends jumped with jubilation, they hugged and danced around the stage. Kieran stopped and took in the sight of all the clans coming together, everybody celebrating. He was no longer the freak, but a part of the Elite.

  ###

  “So, how was the journey?”

  “Long,” Kieran sighed, looking out of the car window. His breath fogged up the glass and his fingers slowly drew trails in the mist he had created. One arm was firmly gripping the new console that he and all his other clan mates had won.

  “Well, we’ve both missed you; it has been the quietest six weeks.” She continued to ramble as he looked out of the window. “I mean thank goodness for the jab they created because things started to go a bit funny out here. But now we’re all protected and I’m so glad you’re safe. One of the days we couldn’t get any shopping because…”

  Kieran phased out and look around to the back seat where Max was smiling back. He was sad to leave his new friends but he was happy to see his mum and little brother. “I get to go back in the half term.”

  “Really?” Nicola was surprised. She had openly thought he would have missed home too much to enjoy himself. “So was it good. What did you do?”

  “Oh,” Kieran looked up at the darkening sky, “nothing special.”