After blowing the secret lab that was under the H.T.I. tower, Miles, or whoever it was that had his face, made his way to his secret base in Harlem. Where he had made preparations prior to destroying the old one which destroyed any evidence and killed Justin who was standing in his way and founding members, Sarah and Director Stone who he's wanted kill to achieve whatever nefarious plan he plotting along with the real Miles Drake. He thought victory was as good as his since there was no trace of them which reassured him that they were all killed,...or so he thought.
SECONDS BEFORE THE LAB EXPLODED
The countdown for the self destruct sequence counting down from twenty appeared on the screen and the exit was sealed by some kind of alloy.
Justin began using his strength to try and break through but was managing to put dents and cracks on it. Judging by its appearance and durability, Justin managed to realize what it was.
"That alloy is the same material that Enzo's body was made of, I suppose you could break through eventually, but I'm afraid you just don't have enough time, and I don't care how strong you are, not even you will be able to survive this, this is where I bid you farewell, cause this will be the last time we see each other." He said as he tuned out.
Within the last ten seconds, Justin paused to think of way out, and it came to him, Justin took out an object from his pocket, an object Director Stone recognized.
"Wait, how did you get that?...."Director Stone asked.
"I'll explain later…..everyone just touch me, quick." Justin answered and instructed.
"Huh?" Director Stone questioned surprised and Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"Not like that, just trust me." Justin replied.
"Alright." Director Stone agreed as he, Sarah and Miles gathered around him and placed their hands on him.
Justin sent some of his energy to the object and it started glowing and floating in mid air which made Director Stone sure about what the object is now. The glow of the floating object got brighter and brighter until it illuminated the whole room, and while having one second to spare they disappeared as the glow subsided, then the room exploded.
They found themselves teleported to a different location. They reappeared in mid air and began falling immediately. Luckily they all fell into the Atlantic Ocean.
"Justin, where did get that?" Sarah asked as she also realized what the object was.
"Give me a second." Justin spoke as he took a deep breath and swam down to the bottom as the ocean as quickly as he could with the help of his powers. Before reaching the bottom, the object started to move on its own and submerged itself under the seabed, now all Justin had to do was wait.
Justin waited a bit knowing what was about to happen when he started hearing rumbling, the ocean floor started to crack and the underwater base began rising to the surface lifting Justin with it and Sarah, Director Stone and Miles swam towards the floating base. As soon as they got close to the door, the object revealed itself in the wall beside the door. It quickly scanned Justin.
"Access granted, welcome Justin Jackson." said an A.I. voice as the door opened automatically.
"Haven't been here in years." Director Stone said.
"Me either." Sarah added.
"Alright Justin, explain, how did you get the key, how do you know about this place?" Sarah inquired as they went inside.
Justin began telling them about how he found the object that they called the key in Director Stone's office and how he and his friends found the base and how he initially thought that Director Stone was the shadow man.
"Wait, you thought I was the shadow man?" asked Director Stone trying to wrap his head around it.
"Yeah, sorry." said Justin.
"Can you use that key thing to get us back home?" asked Miles.
"Sorry, but it will only teleport us back to the place that we were teleported from." Justin answered.
"Yeah, no thanks." Miles replied not wanting to go back to that secret room.
"So did my father purposely expose me to the cube's energy all those years ago?" asked Justin after finding out that he had powers ever since he was a toddler.
"No he didn't expose you to it, but you showed no signs of rejecting the energy which was what made your father realize the key to fixing the cellular deterioration was inside you, in your D.N.A., but your father managed to suppress the energy inside to protect you from anyone who would want it, and also to give you a normal childhood, but when you came in contact with the cube again, it undid whatever your father did to suppress them. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." Sarah explained.
"Don't worry, I'm used to it." Justin replied, annoyed and upset since it wasn't the first time that they kept a secret from him and he had a feeling it wasn't the last.
"Hey so,…the other you, you have any idea why he's been impersonating you for twelve years or why he's doing any of this?" Justin asked changing the subject.
"I don't know who he is but judging by what I saw when I saw his appearance, or little that I could see before he stole my face, I don't think he's from this planet."
"Wait,…you think he's an alien?" Justin asked a bit skeptical.
"It's definitely possible, defending the planet against alien threats is basically our job, that's what A.D.A stands for, Alien Defense Agency." Director Stone revealed.
Sarah gave Director Stone a look after he told Justin all this.
"What, we would've had to tell him sooner or later." Director Stone said to Sarah.
"An alien, I guess it would explain why he said that he spent twelve of our earth years in someone else's skin and talking about his true form and all that." Sarah chimed in.
"You're surprisingly finding this hard to believe Justin." Director Stone voiced, noticing the look of disbelief on Justin's face.
"Where do you think the cube came from?" Director Stone asked.
"I guess I never gave it thought but it does make sense." Justin mumbled.
"The cube isn't from this world and neither are the powers that it gave you." Director Stone added.
"Of course, it all make sense now, he used your D.N.A to perfect the serum, and that's why he wanted to destroy it, to protect you." said Miles as he was listening on the conversation.
"Where's Joe by the way?" asked Miles.
The room suddenly went silent after he asked that question.
"He's dead." Sarah replied.
"What?!" Miles said in shock.
"We'll talk more about it after we get out of here." Sarah insisted.
"Yeah, we should also go protect aunt Sofia, Miles, um…the other Miles said that he was gonna go after her next." Justin suggested.
"Yeah, or at the very least warn her." Sarah agreed as she walked off.
"Where are you going?" Justin asked.
"Home, Are you coming?" Sarah replied.
Justin and the others followed her assuming that she knew where she was going. They followed her to what seemed like a hanger for aircraft.
"These look similar to the jets that you guys have at the A.D.A." Justin noticed.
"That's because these are ours, they're just outdated models, I completely forgot these were here." Director Stone said as he went inside one of them with Justin and the others right behind him.
Director Stone brushed off the dust and cobwebs that gathered around the controls as a result of inactivity and attempted to get it ready for takeoff but there was one problem.
"What's wrong?" Miles asked.
"The jet doesn't have enough power to fly." Director Stone broke the bad news.
"Wait, I have an idea." Justin sais as he walked towards the controls.
He sent some of his energy to his hands and gently placed his fingers on the controls and his energy started surging through the jet, basically jump starting the jet.
"Nice, we're at full power." said Director Stone as the jet started hovering off the ground.
Director Stone pressed a button on the control panel and part of the roof opened up and outside entered the room, blowing away a lot of the dust and cobwebs that had settled inside and the jet flew up and out through it.
"Wait!" said Justin as he flew out of the jet to retrieve the key from its shot which made the base submerge itself back under water while Justin flew back into the jet before it flew off.
A LONG FLIGHT LATER
Justin and company finally arrived at the A.D.A. and Kate along with some other agents went out to receive them.
"Where in the world did you find this old thing?" asked Kate surprised that they arrived in an old outdated and run down model of their jets.
"We'll explain later, where's my sister?" Sarah asked in a haste.
"I'm right here, what's wrong?" Sofia asked as she walked out.
"Oh thank god, we've got to get you somewhere safe, Kate please take Miles to the med bay and get him looked at, and we need to find Jones, we haven't been able to contact him." Sarah spoke up.
"Jones is in med bay, he managed to alert us before he lost consciousness, he's out if danger for now but he hasn't regained consciousness as yet." Kate reported bringing their minds at ease after assuming the worst had happened to him.
"Thank God he's alright." Sarah said, before both her and Director Stone began filling them in on everything that transpired.
"So you think that this fake Miles might be an alien?...well that doesn't sound too far fetched considering everything you've told me so far; so you guys are sure that he thinks you guys died in that explosion?" Sofia asked.
"Yeah, I mean there's no way for him to think that we survived, plus he was certain that the explosion would kill us." Sarah assured.
Little did they know that he still had eyes and ears around the facility; his tiny cameras and drones were still running around, listening and recording.
"So, they actually managed to survive, that's unfortunate." Miles's doppelganger said to himself while watching the live feed that his drones were providing him with at his base of operations.
"We probably have nothing to worry about right, he needs Justin's DNA for the serum to work, so as long as he doesn't get it he won't be able create his army." Sofia voiced.
Justin was also confident that the shadow man's plan wouldn't come to fruition, until he remembered that he lost a lot of blood during his battle with Enzo who they started referring to as Prism thanks to Jones.
"Maybe he already has my DNA." Justin spoke up.
"What are you talking about?" asked Director Stone."
"I lost a lot of blood when I fought Enzo." Justin began.
"Who's Enzo?" Sofia asked, unintentionally interrupting him.
"Prism." Sarah replied.
"Oh that's his name." Sofia replied.
"Yeah that's right, you were bleeding a lot when he fought you after the fight, and he did seem very confident before he tried to kill us." Director Stone added to the discussion.
"If so, we need to put all our time and effort into finding him as soon as possible before he makes his move, time is a luxury we don't have." Sarah insisted.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Justin ready to help.
"Go home, rest, you're still not completely healed from your fight, plus that move that you used to beat Enzo did a lot of damage to your arms, don't get ahead of yourself just because you heal three times faster than normal people." Sarah insisted.
"Well one, I think its faster than that, and two, didn't you just say we need to put all our time and effort into finding him cause it would be bad news for anyone if he manages to create an army, I can help." Justin defended.
"Since when are you so eager to help people?" Sarah asked surprised.
"Well I mean,...I'm not really eager, I'm just...…" Justin tried to explain but was unable to complete his sentences.
"Right…well when I said that I was talking about us, not you." Sarah finalized.
"So you're benching me?" Justin asked in disbelieve.
"Call it whatever you want, but ever since you got your powers back you've been in one death match after another, and that last fight with Enzo was the last straw. Just go home, go back to being a teenager for a while and if we really, really need you, we'll call you. Plus school is out and it's the Christmas holidays, enjoy it." Sarah suggested.
"When have you ever known me to enjoy Christmas?" Justin asked dryly.
"Well Mr. Scrooge, maybe this year will be different for you." Sarah replied.
"Sure it will." Justin said sarcastically before leaving.
ON THE EVENING OF CHRISTMAS EVE
"Okay Justin, I'm heading out, I'll be at the A.D.A." Sarah spoke as she was approaching the front door.
"Oh okay, bye" Justin said sitting in the couch watching TV.
"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to spend much of Christmas with you, again; I thought we would've found Miles's evil doppelganger by now." Sarah said.
"It's alright, this is important, besides, its like I said the holidays aren't a big deal to me." Justin replied.
"And that might be my fault for missing so many Christmases, but you don't need to be cooped up here, you can go hang out with your cousin and friends." Sarah suggested.
"Yeah, maybe." Justin replied.
"At least think about it okay." Sarah tried again.
"Yeah, I will." Justin replied.
"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can." Sarah said before going through the door and closed it behind her.
Less than half an hour later, the door bell rang, forcing Justin to reluctantly get up and answer it, and he was surprised to see who it was.
"Hey Chloe, what're you doing here and why's your hair white?" Justin asked, confused.
"Merry Christmas to you too cuz, and it's just a wig, I was handing out presents to kids as a little Christmas job at the mall and I was dressed up as Mrs. Claus, I haven't taken it off yet because I think it looks good on me." Chloe explained.
"You look like a Targaryen,…with caramel skin." Justin remarked.
"I'll take that as a compliment, I always knew I'd make a good mother of dragons." Chloe responded smugly.
"Anyways, I knew you'd probably be cooping yourself in your house like a hermit, come on, we're going to go out and enjoy ourselves, oh, do you have ice skates by any chance?" Chloe asked.
"Ice skates? no." Justin answered, a bit puzzled.
"Oh well, no matter, I'll take care of that, come on go get your coat, its freezing, everyone else is gonna meet us at the subway." Chloe voiced.
"Subway? where are we going." asked Justin.
"The Rockefeller Center in Queens, I've always wanted to see the giant Rockefeller Christmas tree and use the ice rink there, now hurry up and get dressed or we'll be late." Chloe spoke being all pushy and excited.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." Justin gave in and chose not to argue with his cousin.
A few minutes later, Justin and Chloe were on their way to the subway and Chloe started a conversation.
"So Amethyst knows about your powers now huh." Chloe began.
"Oh, she told you." Justin replied with a sigh.
"Yeah, and how she got kidnapped." Chloe continued.
"Yeah, because of me." Justin added.
"You're actually blaming yourself for that?" Chloe asked softly.
"Yeah, and she probably does too." Justin replied.
"Did she say that?" asked Chloe.
"Not in so many words, what else did she tell you?" asked Justin.
"That you got badly hurt in the fight, and I'm really disappointed that I had to hear from someone else other than you." Chloe scolded, frowning at the end.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, its just a lots been going on." Justin replied.
"Yeah, my mom told me about Miles and his evil doppelganger, I've hardly seen her since they started looking for him, and Amethyst said she barely sees her dad either." Chloe informed.
"Yeah, I've hardly seen my mom too…did Amethyst mention anything else that happened that night?" asked Justin changing the subject, worried that Amethyst might've told her about the kiss.
"No, was she suppose to?" Chloe asked with a raised brow.
"Oh, no, just curious." Justin replied.
"Nah I'm not buying that, spill it, what else happened that night." Chloe asked as she became intrigued.
"Nothing, let's just hurry up and get to the subway." Justin tried to dismiss the conversation.
"Fine, I guess ill just ask her when we get to the subway." Chloe replied with a grin on her face.
"Wait, you invited her too?" Justin asked alarmed.
"Of course I did, she's my friend, why wouldn't I?" Chloe asked.
"No its just I didn't know she was coming, I thought it was just Max and Kade." Justin replied.
"Ok well Yeah, she's coming too." Chloe responded getting a bit more curious.
"Okay, cool." Justin spoke realizing that this whole night was about to be awkward and wished his cousin didn't drag him out of the house.
Justin and Chloe finally arrived at the subway where Max, Amethyst and Kade were waiting on them.
"Finally, now we get going." Kade spoke up as he saw them approaching.
"Oh whatever, hey Amethyst." Chloe greeted as she hugged her while ignoring Kade.
"Hey, Merry Christmas." Amethyst wished her as she hugged her back.
"Um, Merry Christmas Justin." Amethyst spoke trying to make the situation less awkward.
"Yeah, Merry Christmas." Justin replied.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas, can we please go now." Kade rushed.
"Dude, calm down, the ice rink isn't going anywhere." Max voiced as they boarded the subway going to Queens.
"Are you wearing a wig?" Max asked he noticed Chloe's white hair.
"Yeah, I was handing out presents at the mall and I was dressed up as Mrs. Claus." Chloe explained as they took their seats.
"Wait, did they pay you?" Kade asked with a smirk on his face.
"That's not what's important, its Christmas…but yeah, I got paid." Chloe answered returning the smirk.
"Heh, heh, I thought so, you should've let me in on that action, I think I would've made a great Santa Claus." Kade replied.
"Santa Claus? Nah!, you'd be more like one of his elves." Justin added in.
"An elf huh, is that another joke about my height?" Kade questioned knowing what the answer was while everyone else tried to hold their laughter back.
"Okay, I take it back, you wouldn't be an elf." said Justin.
"Thank you." said Kade.
"Yeah, ….you're too short to be an elf." said Justin trying to hold a straight face.
No one could hold back their laughter any longer, Chloe almost choked on what she was drinking.
"Alright, alright, I'm joking." Justin said.
"Ha-ha, very funny, you know it's not that I'm short, you and Max are too tall, we're sophomores and you guys are already around six feet tall." Kade stated with a frown.
"Okay then, are Chloe and Amethyst too tall? cause they're also taller than you." Justin pointed out.
"Amethyst isn't that much taller than me, and Chloe is almost as tall as you but you guys are related so she doesn't count." Kade explained his logic making everyone laugh again.
While laughing, Justin and Amethyst's eyes met but since things were still awkward between them they immediately looked away embarrassed while Max and Chloe noticed.
Almost an hour later, the subway came to a stop as it reached Queens, and Chloe was the first person to get off.
"Finally, alright let's go." Chloe said all excited as everyone else was trying to keep up with her until they finally reached the ice rink.
"Beautiful, it's even bigger than I imagined." Chloe said as she stood in awe of the Rockefeller Christmas tree.
"I didn't get what the hype was about but now that I'm here, I can see what the big deal is about." Max spoke nonchalantly.
"This is the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen." Kade gushed most impressed.
"Yeah, okay I'll admit it, coming here was a great idea Chloe." Amethyst spoke.
"I know right, if there's one thing I can do, it's to pick great spots to take a trip, well cuz, getting in the Christmas spirit yet?" Chloe asked as she looked over to Justin.
"I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's nice." Justin admitted.
"Oh great, they're not full which means they still have skates left." Chloe spoke as she took some money out of her purse and rented some skates for Justin to use.
"Thanks." Was Justin's one word of gratitude.
"No problem." said Chloe as she and Kade hastily put their skates on and went out on ice rink.
"You know how to skate right." Chloe asked Kade.
"I've never skated before but it looks simple enough, how hard could it be?" Kade asked all confident as he proceeded to step unto the ice. Almost immediately, Kade started to slip and fall.
"Okay,…so maybe it's not as easy as it looks." Kade admitted as he was struggling to try and stand up on his own while Chloe tried her best not to laugh.
While Chloe helped Kade up, She was impressed at Max as he skated right by them seeming to be already good at skating while grabbing a bit of female attention on the rink.
"Of course he can skate, why wouldn't he know how to skate already?!" Kade grumbled, a bit jealous.
Justin had put on the skates and went out on the ice rink shortly after they did, but unfortunately….he kept slipping.
"I guess I should've expected that you wouldn't know how to skate, hey Amethyst, you mind helping Justin while I help Kade out." Chloe suggested since Justin and Amethyst were in close proximity.
"Um,… sure." Amethyst agreed hesitantly as Chloe began aiding Kade.
There was nothing but awkward silence between Justin and Amethyst for a while until Justin decided to say something.
"You know, you don't really have to help me out, I can try to figure this out on my own." Justin said as he stretched out his leg to step foot on the ice.
"Wait Justin, you shouldn't…." Amethyst called trying to warn him.
Justin ended up slipping and falling but used his hand break his fall.
"This really is harder than it looks." Justin laughed.
"What, did you think because you have powers that this would be a piece of cake?" Amethyst asked as she knelt down and spoke under her voice with a smile on her face.
"What?!, no, well...yes." Justin admitted.
"Okay, here, I'll help you." said Amethyst as she stretched her hand out to him, and suddenly, things started to become a lot less awkward.
"Okay, now just hold unto me until you find your balance." said Amethyst as they both started to move slowly around the rink while Chloe was helping Kade and Max was doing his own thing. A few minutes later, Justin started to skate on his own due to Amethyst's utelage.
"Nice, you're getting the hang of this pretty quickly." Amethyst spoke as they skated around without her assisting him.
"Yeah, I hate to admit it but, this was a good idea, I'm glad I came." Justin voiced.
"Yeah, I'm glad too." Amethyst agreed causing Justin's eyebrows to raise a bit.
"Glad that I came, not you, not that I'm not glad you're here but…..ugh, you know what I mean." Amethyst stuttered as she tried to explain.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Justin responded finding that a bit funny.
"Does this mean you're not afraid of being around me anymore?" Justin asked.
As Justin asked her that question, she was reminded of why she made that decision which she had almost forgotten about due to the fun she was having.
"Justin, listen…I," Amethyst proceeded to say something.
"Watch out!" Justin warned Amethyst as she bumped into someone causing her to loose her balance and started to fall, when she grabbed unto Justin, causing him to fall on top of her. Justin managed to break his fall and not a minute too soon since they were only inches away from each other. Justin stared at her for a couple seconds and just like that, it was all awkward again.
"Um,...you can get up now." Amethyst said sounding a bit serious and a bit embarrassed at the same time.
"You guys alright?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah we're fine." Justin replied as he helped Amethyst up.
"Yeah, I just tripped is all." Amethyst said before everyone else continued to enjoy the rest of the trip.
Justin and his friends were taking a subway back home to Washington Heights as their fun night came to an end.
"I cant believe Christmas is almost over already, it feels like it just started." said Chloe all bummed out.
"Yeah, we should make this a tradition or something." Kade suggested.
"And maybe next year go some place different." Max added.
"That's not a bad idea actually, Justin, Amethyst, you guys have been a bit silent since we left, you guys didn't have fun?" asked Chloe.
"No, I had fun, Kade was right, we should make it a tradition." Amethyst answered.
"Yeah, I had fun too, thanks for inviting me." Justin added.
"Oh, ok." Chloe replied.
Even though Justin and Amethyst managed to convince Chloe and Kade that nothing was going on, Max picked up that they were being awkward towards each other and managed to deduct that something happened between them, and this awkward vibe continued through out the subway ride home.
THE NEXT DAY
Justin made his way downstairs to eat breakfast. He took some milk out of the fridge and took out his favorite cereal. As he was about to dig in, he saw a note on the table which said, 'something came up at the A.D.A., I'll be back later.' From his mother.
As Justin was eating, he wondered what was going on at the A.D.A, and if it was something that they didn't want him know about. After Justin finished eating, he saw a message on his phone from his mother telling him to meet her at the A.D.A. Justin flew off almost immediately after getting the message; he was glad to get the message because it made him feel like they were finally keeping him in the loop instead of keeping secrets from him but he was surprised to see Max, Amethyst, Chloe and Kade there.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" asked Justin.
"We don't know yet, they were waiting until you got here to tell us anything." Max replied.
"I couldn't get my dad to tell me anything." Amethyst spoke, seeming perplexed.
"My mom wouldn't even tell me what's going on either." Chloe spoke up.
"Which tells me that something weird is going on." Kade added.
"Oh great, Justin's here now, great." Director Stone said as he walked in the room with Sarah and Sofia right behind him.
"Why did you guys call us here?" Justin asked.
"The three of us have been talking, and we admit that taking your memories of each other might have been...wrong, even if we were trying to protect you kids, which is why we've decided to give you your memories back." Director Stone explained.
"Really?" Justin asked surprised.
"Yeah, that is...if you guys want your memories back." Sarah voiced.
Justin and the others looked at each other for a while and unanimously decided to have their memories returned to them.
"Okay, this might hurt a little bit, so brace yourselves." Director Stone warned as he stood behind them and used his powers to return each of their memories to them one by one.
They all felt a bit of pain just as Director Stone warned as these new memories all rushed back to each of them all at once; they all remember being with each other when they were little kids, everything they experienced together, good and bad, Justin and Max being inseparable as well as Amethyst and Chloe, everything came back to them in flashes.
Justin reached in his pocket for his wallet and took out a picture. It was the same picture of himself and his friends when they were little kids that had forever together written at the back of it that he found in his mother's room.
"I remember these other kids now, Tyler, Sabrina and, and...Derek." Justin spoke up as he named the other kids in the picture while they all felt a feeling of grief over the death of their friend Derek now that they could remember him.
"Forever together" Amethyst said as she read what was written on the back of the photograph.
"I remember that." Amethyst continued.
"Yeah, it's something me and my mom always said to each other as a promise to one other." Justin explained.
"And somewhere down the line, you kids started saying it to each other, as a promise that you all would be together forever, and it looks like you all managed to keep that promise to each other, even though none of you had any memory of each other. I guess not even that could keep you guys apart" Sarah interjected.
"Do you guys know where Tyler and Sabrina are?" Max asked.
"I wished we did, we haven't heard from their parents since the day I erased your memories and we all went our separate ways, and that was almost ten years ago." Director Stone answered.
"But something tells me that we'll definitely see them again." Sofia voiced.
Justin and his friends started reminiscing about the memories that were returned to them until they went home.
MEANWHILE
Miles was further analyzing Justin's blood so he could recreate the serum so that he could cure the cellular deterioration in his test subjects and get one step closer to getting his super-powered army. While analyzing Justin's DNA, he discovered that it was more than just serving as the final piece of the serum.
"I don't believe it, it seems that after all this time, the universe is finally smiling on me." He said as he started laughing hysterically.
"Everything alright boss?" asked one of his henchmen after hearing his laughter.
"I'm more than alright, we're skipping ahead to the final phase of our plan." The doppelganger informed.
"But don't we need to kill Director Stone and the rest of the remaining founding members first?" The henchman asked confused.
"No, their deaths are no longer necessary for my plans to work, just get everything ready." He ordered.
"Yes sir." said the henchman.
A FEW DAYS LATER
Christmas break came to an end and it was January and the hallways of Washington Heights High School were once again being over run by students who were returning from their Christmas vacations. Now students were making their way to the cafeteria for lunch.
"What are you thinking about?" Chloe asked as she walked over to Amethyst who was sitting by herself on the campus grounds.
"Oh, hi Chloe, I was just thinking about one of the memories that I got back." Amethyst said.
"Yeah I've been thinking about them too, I still think it's weird, it feels like we're receiving new memories when technically they're old memories.
"What's weird is the fact that the five of us just happened to find our way back to each other, it must be for a reason." Amethyst spoke up.
"It must be fate." Chloe agreed.
"Hey, what's been going on with you and Justin all Christmas?" Chloe asked.
"What are you talking about, there's nothing is going on between us." Amethyst replied, trying to act cool.
As she said this, she spotted Justin and Max walking by.
"Hey, I'll have to talk to you later okay, I have something I need do." Amethyst spoke as she got up.
"Fine, but to be continued." Chloe insisted.
Justin and Max were on their way to the cafeteria with everyone else.
"Hey Max, can I borrow Justin for a minute?" Amethyst asked.
"Sure." Max replied with a small shrug.
"Try to keep your lips to yourself this time." Max whispered, teasing him before he made his way to the cafeteria.
"What did he say?" Amethyst asked.
"Um, he just told me where he would he sitting for lunch." Justin lied.
Amethyst took Justin to the school football stadium and sat on the bleachers where there weren't many people there.
"So what's up?" Justin asked.
"I wanted to apologize." Amethyst began.
"Apologize? for what?" Justin asked, confused.
"How I've been acting towards you all Christmas, after I got kidnapped." Amethyst answered.
"No need to apologize, I understand why you wanted to avoid me after that." Justin replied.
"Chloe, Max and Kade didn't avoid you after finding out about your powers, after finding out how dangerous your life is." Amethyst pointed out.
"No,…but in your defense, they never almost died because of me, so give yourself a break. Besides, I didn't think that you staying away from me was a bad idea." Justin revealed.
He then sighed before continuing.
"Especially with what's been going on lately and what I fear is going to happen." Justin said.
"What are you talking about?" Amethyst asked.
Justin proceeded to tell Amethyst about what happened with Miles doppelganger and how his mother, her father and Sofia have been searching for him since Christmas.
"I don't like this bit of normalcy that we've been enjoying knowing that he's still out there, like this bit of peace and quiet is just to get us to let our guards down right before something bad happens." Justin expressed his thoughts on what was going on.
"Oh, so this is the calm." Amethyst replied.
"The calm?" Justin inquired, confused.
"Yeah you know, the calm before the storm, right now you're experience the calm, at least that's what it sounds like." Amethyst explained.
"The calm before the storm huh, you're right, that's exactly what it feels like." Justin agreed.
"So that's why I don't think that you keeping your distance from me is such a bad idea, considering everything that is happening and what could've happened to you that night." Justin explained his reasoning.
"I get that, but it wasn't right of me to blame you like that and try to end our friendship like that, especially now that I remember how close we all were." Amethyst said referring to the memories that were recently returned to her and her friends.
"How much do you remember?" Justin asked.
"Everything, like me and Chloe being friends even back then, those family dinners your mom would invite us to and how she treated us like we were her kids too,…I even remember that toy ring that you gave me as a wedding ring and you asked me to marry you when we grew up." Amethyst revealed while laughing and reminiscing.
"Heh, heh, yeah, things have really changed since we were little kids." Justin said as he chuckled awkwardly trying to subtly imply that he doesn't like her anymore.
"Oh, are you saying that the proposal no longer stands?" Amethyst asked.
"Well, no,….well I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to marry you, I'm not saying I would want to either, wait, that came out wrong." Justin said as he began to ramble.
"Justin, calm down, I'm just messing with you." Amethyst said as she started to laugh even more due to Justin's reaction.
"Oh, heh, right." Justin replied realizing that he probably looked stupid now.
"Well, judging from what you've told me, it sounds like you've finally found the truth about your dad." Amethyst voiced as she changed the topic.
"Yeah but I don't know how to prove it, and let everyone else know that my dad isn't who he was framed to be. I have to find a way though, I owe him that much, for wrongfully hating him all this time for something he didn't even do." Justin expressed his guilt.
"When was the last time you went to see him?" Amethyst asked.
"What?" Justin asked confused.
"His grave, when was last time you visited his grave?" Amethyst clarified.
"Oh, well...I've never actually visited his grave, actually I don't even know where it is." Justin was ashamed to say.
"Oh,...there's no need to be ashamed about that." Amethyst said softly.
"What about you? do you visit your mother's grave?" Justin asked.
"Yeah, on her birthday, which is coming up soon now that I think about it, well anyway, you should visit your father's grave. It could give you closure that you probably never realized that you needed." Amethyst said.
"Yeah sure, I'll take your advice." Justin agreed.
There were a few seconds of silence after that conversation before either of them said anything else.
"So,...is the fact that it's too dangerous to be around me the only reason that you've been avoiding me?" Justin asked, putting a stop to the silence.
"What are you talking about?" Amethyst asked.
"You know, that thing that happened between us at the dance." Justin started dropping hints not so subtly.
"Oh,….the kiss." Amethyst said as her tone of voice changed completely.
"Kiss! He kissed you?!" a voice rang out, completely outraged.
Justin and Amethyst quickly looked behind them to see who it was, only to see it was Eddie who is Duncan's friend, who was wearing his football gear with his helmet in his hand.
Eddie charged at Justin to punch him in his face.
"Eddie No!" Amethyst exclaimed as she jumped into the way of Eddie's fist.
Eddie managed stop his fist's momentum, leaving just inches between his fist and her face.
"What are you doing?" Eddie asked.
"Um,…what's going on here?" Duncan asked, as he was also on his way to way practice wearing his football gear with his helmet in his hand.
"I was on my way to practice when I overheard these two talking, apparently this freak kissed your girl, he must've forced himself on her." Eddie explained.
"No he didn't." Amethyst defended him.
"It was the night of the dance, when you guys were dancing?" Duncan asked calmly, too calmly.
"Yes,…but how could you know that unless...you saw." Amethyst said while feeling a bit of dread.
"All I saw were you two dancing together, I didn't stick around long enough to see you two kissing unfortunately, must've been nice." Duncan spat coldly.
"It wasn't like that." Amethyst tried to explain.
"Then you tell me what happened." Duncan said as he tried hiding his anger.
"I'm the one who went in for the kiss, we were dancing I must have gotten too caught up in it or I must've miss read some signals, or both, but then she pushed me off, its not her fault." Justin spoke up as he took responsibility for the whole debacle.
"Of course it's not her fault…" Eddie chimed in.
"Eddie please, let me handle this, you were probably too nice to him, maybe you should just avoid him or maybe stop being friends with him " Duncan suggested.
"Duncan I can't do that, he's my friend." Amethyst spoke in frustration.
"What? you've known him for like… two months, if it's even been that long." Duncan spoke confused.
"Well technically I've known him longer than I've known you." Amethyst thought to herself.
Duncan sighed as he put on his helmet.
"There you are, I was wondering where you ran off to." Max spoke carrying his and Justin's lunches with Chloe and Kade behind him.
"Well, what's going on here, I hope you're not harassing my cousin again." Chloe spoke up in a menacing tone while staring daggers at Eddie.
"And so what if I am?" Eddie asked as he walked towards her.
"Careful, we don't want a repeat of last time, speaking of which, how are your balls?" Chloe asked in a dangerous tone.
Eddie's anger started to stir up due to Chloe's taunting.
"Plus its three against one, in case you didn't notice." Max interjected.
"Three? where's the other person?" Kade asked as he looked around.
Max and Chloe looked at Kade with an annoyed expression on their face.
"Oh, it's me, I was afraid of that." Kade said sarcastically.
"Well,…technically its three against two, right Duncan." Eddie replied as he touches Duncan's shoulder.
"Don't include me in this." Duncan spat as he started to walk away.
"Come on man." Eddie spoke as he followed him.
"We'll just talk about this later." Duncan said as he stopped and turned and looked at Amethyst before he turned back and went on his way to practice.
"You okay?" Max asked Justin.
"Yeah I'm alright, thanks to you guys." Justin said.
"No problem, but its really Eddie who should be thanking us for stopping him from fighting you." Chloe said.
"Yeah, since he's the one who would've ended up in the hospital if he fought Justin." Amethyst spoke as they all laughed.
MEANWHILE AT THE A.D.A
At the A.D.A, a manhunt was still active for Miles's doppelganger, when suddenly, an alarm went off.
"Director Stone, you should take a look at this." said one of the agents.
"What's going on?" Director Stone asked as he walked over to the computer.
"It's our orbit defense system, our weapons are either going offline or self destructing." The agent informed.
"All of them, our railguns, blasters, our space cannons?" Director Stone asked as he started to panic.
"All of them sir, the whole system just went down." the agent revealed.
The A.D.A.s orbit defense system is made up of self-automated weapons scattered all across the earth's orbit which would defend the earth against any extraterrestrial threats.
"How's this possible? The only way this could happen was if Sarah, Sofia and I died, the remaining founding members, which means the person who could be behind this is Miles doppelganger but the three of us are still alive. So how did he pull this off without killing us?" Director Stone asked himself.
"Director Sone, how worried should we be?" the agent asked.
"That defense system was the only thing keeping us safe from invasions for the last twelve years , so we should be very worried." Director Stone said as he picked up his phone and started dialing.
"Sir, an unidentified space craft has just entered the planet's atmosphere." the agent informed with a worried look and tone on her face and in her voice.
"No...they're here already." Director Stone muttered with a hopeless look on his face.
At school, Justin and his friends were eating their lunches on the stadium bleachers when Justin's phone started ringing.
"Uncle Jayce?" Justin answered in confusion.
Amethyst quickly looked up realizing that Justin was talking to her father.
"Wait, wait, slow down, what's coming?" Justin asked unable to understand Director Stone while he was being hysterical.
"Um Justin." Max called to him.
"What is it?" Justin asked.
Max pointed at what he was looking at while the others couldn't believe what they were seeing.
A big ship was floating just above the city and could be seen from anywhere in Manhattan. Some smaller scout ships and hovercrafts started flying out of what could be described as the mother ship. They started firing at the buildings, destroying some of them and they started firing at civilians on the ground. The civilians along with the students who were in the stadium started to run away screaming and panicking.
"It's too late...it's already here." Justin spoke to Director Stone realizing what he was trying to warn him about.
"What on the world is happening?" Amethyst asked in shock.
Justin spoke without diverting his eyes, "the storm."
NEXT CHAPTER – INVASION
~KEOKROSTOS