Plan in Action
Zacharias
The first step of our plan was to get a phone. Any type of communication with the outside world would do. Since Mr. Avshae had chosen to tutor Snowy in Computers during his gifted class, Snowy had spent a bunch of time in the computer lab. He had casually questioned Mr. Avshae about the use of technology in school.
Mr. Avshae had told him that no one in the school had a phone except Fa C (shocker). The satellite communications went wonky here and only Fa C seemed to be able to access them. Email services, messenger devices, even smart watches didn’t work here (not so smart now, huh?).
Angelina
Our first plan was to get a phone from somewhere. Snowy knew when his aunt would be on her phone. She had a daily routine. After asking her some quick questions, we would proceed to the second part of our plan. To put the first part into action, we needed to go to Fa C’s office.
We were walking towards the principal’s office. ‘Punzel was holding the tablet on which we had mapped the school. Soon, we reached the office. Well, not the office. Sandy wishes me to be accurate, so we reached the door saying Fa C.
Vincent
“I’ve already put a loop video running in the security cameras,” I told my friends. “Noone will know we were here. I hacked the school camera system when I was in extra computer class.”
‘Punzel took out her modified dagger. Pressing the button on top, she released some acid onto the padlock that was securing the door closed. With a hissing noise, a hole formed and some gas was released.yanking off the lock, she opened the door.
Cho
“Don’t go in!” yelled Snowy. “There is a very complex set of lasers and cameras there. If any other human except Fa C enters, the alarm system will be triggered. Trust me, it’s a very complicated alarm system. That Fa C is one paranoid person.”
“How are we gonna get the phone, then?” frowned Fizz.
Snowy grinned at Sandy. “Will you do the honours, Sandy?”
“Sure thing, my good man.”
Zacharias
I took out his new and improved boomerang and instructed it. Then he threw it into the room. It flew around, retrieved a phone and exited. Then I whispered some more instructions to it. It opened the window.
“Nice,” Fizz commented.
We slammed the door shut and put a new padlock on it. “Now’s when we runnnnnn!” yelled Fizz. We shot off.
Angelina
We broke into a run. Snowy kept checking the map and directing us. We had decided to go to the garden and sit in a far corner and use the phone. We rushed there. ‘Punzel immediately collapsed on the grassy floor. She lay there for a bit. Sandy recovered the phone from his pocket.
Of course, it was locked with fingerprint scanners, face recognition, and iris scanners. That wasn’t much of an issue, of course. Snowy had written a complicated code that should open most phone locks, also in computer class.
Vincent
I had stored the code from my favorite class on a specially developed pendrive. I plugged the pendrive into the phone. The locks opened. Her wallpaper was black with a white border. (Why am I not surprised?) I clicked on the app ‘messenger’. Sandy took the phone from me and typed in the number that I dictated.
It was my Aunt’s number. I had some serious questions I needed to ask her. An entire host of messages popped up. I could see that my principal and my aunt had corresponded before.
Cho
Some of the earlier messages were:
Fa C : You must take the boy.
Astra : I don’t want to.
Fa C : It was never a choice.
Astra : What do I tell him?
Fa C : You can tell him anything you like.
Astra : You’re making this very hard.
Snowy went very pale. But he hardened his resolve and typed in his first message.
Fa C : Hi Aunt Asra! This is your nephew.
Astra : Vincent?????
Fa C : I have some questions for you.
Astra : What are you doing with your principal’s phone?
Fa C : How do you know this is the principal’s number?
Astra : …
Zacharias
Fa C : Well?
Astra : She was involved in your adoption.
Fa C : Who are my parents?
Astra : The people who gave birth to you.
Fa C : I want names.
Astra : They were Dr. Aud and Leif Johansen to the world.
Fa C : And their real names were?
Astra : Nora and Daniel Crabbe
Fa C : What was your relation to them?
Astra : I…I knew them.
Fa C : Were they agents?
Astra : The best of the best
Fa C : Are you an agent?
Astra : No, but I am affiliated with this organisation.
Fa C : Are you my real Aunt?
Astra : ……………………………………
Angelina
Fa C : Whom do you work for?
Astra : Hansen Medicals
Fa C : Then why do you regularly correspond with my principal?
Astra : I told you! I am affiliated with this organization.
Fa C : Tell me more about this organization.
Astra : It is a group of powerful people.
Fa C : What does it do?
Astra : It makes money. Using power.
Fa C : How are you affiliated with it?
Astra : I used to work for it.
Fa C : What happened then?
Astra : I quit.
Fa C : Was it common practice to let people quit?
Astra : No. But I was a very senior officer, the best in my batch. They had invested a lot in me. In fact, I was usually used as an example to other agents. They had given me a lot of confidential information.
Vincent
Fa C : All the more reason to get you shipped to Alaska, isn’t it?
Astra : Yes, but after this they couldn’t possibly. They were embarrassed. Also, Fa and I were...close. Once upon a time. She influenced some of the higher officers. So, they made up some story about the split being mutual and let me go. Ever so often, Fa will still call in the odd favour.
Fa C : Then you knew about the school. Why did you let me go?
Astra : I didn’t have a choice anyway. Besides, I thought you’d make a fantastic agent. At a very young age you started displaying your parents’ qualities. There have always been agents keeping an eye on you. Those scouts were sure your parents’ legacy would catch up with you one day and it did. That person who tried to burn you sought revenge. Not for anything that you did. Your parents put many criminals behind bars. They had families too. and children. The scouts could easily have gotten you out of the burning room. However, they wanted to see how you would react to the situation.
Cho
Snowy had steadily been getting paler throughout this phone exchange. Fizz was peeking over his shoulder at the phone. Snowy was on one side, and I was on the other.
“Oh, Snowy. I’m so sorry,” I murmured.
“I hate to bring this up at an unwelcome time,” said Fizz, “But we need to get going. Fa C’s patrols finish soon."
Snowy pressed his lips together in a hard line. He deleted all the messages he had written and his aunt did the same. There would be no proof that he had ever used the phone.
“I’m ready.”
Zacharias
Fizz’s lips spread into a wide smile. “Is that so? Then let’s get this party on the road!”
Everybody sprung into action. I considered the topography of the area, “Fizz can fly up to five feet. The only way the phone can reach the window is ...through there!”
I pointed to a cordoned off area. There were metal fences all around. ‘Punzel used her knife to create a large enough hole for all of us to fit through. We rushed in.
Angelina
I began to whirl my chain wildly around my head. My feet lifted off the ground. The phone was in my other hand. The blades in my chain opened and whirred quickly. I began floating upwards. Snowy was wearing his glove thingies. Pressing a button, he activated the shields. A circle of light flickered to life around his hand.
Sandy positioned Snowy and his shields just right. Then he shouted, “Go!” I dropped the phone. Under me, Snowy was standing. The phone bounced off his shield And high up...into the open window of Fa C’s office.
“Yessss!” we all shouted.
Vincent
“Not so loud!” I admonished. “I thought the point of this exercise was not to get caught. Speaking of which, let’s get moving before foul play is suspected and we come under suspicion for being right under the principal’s open window.”
“Point taken,” said Fizz “Let’s run.”
We reached our cabin, heaving and panting. Sandy opened a book. I fiddled with a Rubik’s cube. Fizz started skipping and ‘Punzel began to sing softly with a book of notes open on her lap.
The PA system crackled to life. “Will Vincent Crabbe, Zacharias Smith, Angelina Johnson, and Cho Chang please report to my office?”