CH50:SECRET BASE

[10:00PM]

[ArkVille Military Base for the younger Gifted students.]

General Luke, Jason and the other Gifted students were back in the meeting room discussing over a few more things before they each headed out into the night. Apparently, General Luke had come upon some news that could help them track down Ace and Sky and eventually have Grim remove whatever he put in Jason.

"Alright. Last update for the night before we all head out." Luke said as a large screen slowly rolled down behind him. "As we already know, Ace and the girl he was with were somehow teleported away from here when those aliens started firing shots but thanks to Jason, Ace and Sky were one of the many teleported to a random location."

"One of?" Michelle asked. "Sir, does that me0na there are more out there?"

"Indeed," Luke replied. "Those shots were sort of jumbled when Jason's powerful surge of lighting happened. As a result, over twenty people disappeared. Where they went to, no one knows and it is not our goal to find them for now."

"Why not?" She asked again.

"We were not the only Gifted Military academy that attacked on that day, remember? There is also a division for those who are over twenty. Apparently, they too lost some of their own. Luckily for them, they were able to track down their missing students thanks to their bracelets."

"So what you're saying is, you've been able to track Ace and the girl down?" Hurt asked.

"Well, yes and no." Luke replied while the picture on the screen changed into one showing the planet. "Right now, we are all here." He pointed at a blue dot that acted as their location. "Ace and Sky were teleported a quarter way across the planet to here." A red dot currently in the northern hemisphere showed on the screen, making some of them sulk and whine.

"Judging from the expressions on your faces, the long distance journey seems to be a bother for you." Luke said. "But, we have a temporary solution for that. Before I show you what I'm talking about, Ace and Sky's signals were last shown here before they destroyed their bracelets."

"What makes you say that?" Michelle asked once more, and this started to bother Luke slightly since she was the only showing interest.

"Remember, that video was sent to every single communicator, phone, laptop and radio. Those aliens managed to send a video that has now caused a slight uproar across the world. Meaning…"

"Ace and the girl have a bounty on their heads." Hurt replied.

"Exactly." Said Luke. "This means every other Military base, raider settlement and bounty hunter is out there looking for those two as we speak."

"This makes our window much much smaller for us to find them." Michelle added. "If that's the case, Ace and Sky may end up being held and sold to whoever's the highest bidder."

"Correct once again." Luke said as the screen changed once more. A picture of Ace and Sky was shown on some pirate website that dealt with selling illegal technology, serums, beast cores, beast weapons, and alien technology.

*GASP*

"Those two have already been found." Luke sighed. "The location is a couple of miles from where the signal last came from."

"Are they selling them like slaves?" Lilly asked.

"Not slaves," Zain replied. "Since Ace and Sky are Gifted students and half of those without powers hates us, they are going to sell them as weapons to whoever is willing to pay the most."

"An auction." Hurt said.

"Correct observation from all of you." Luke replied.

"Have you placed an order for them?" Michelle asked but the current expression on Luke's face clearly showed he had no idea what she was talking about. "Basically, you just need to place and order and show that you are interested. That way, whoever is holding them captive will wait for all the buyers to gather before the bidding process starts."

"Well it's a little too late for that." Luke said. "Someone already placed an order for them. The other tech guys tried tracking who made the order but they failed. I don't know why…"

"You failed because those are not humans." Zain spoke as he approached the others. "Since none of those guys were able to get a stable address or even pinpoint where the signal came from, it could only mean one thing."

"The aliens also have their own bounty hunters sent out to look for them. Those are clearly not human buyers. They're the alien species who will bring down hell to capture those two."

"Now that we've figured out where they could be," Jason spoke but with a low tone. "What are we going to do about our transport situation?"

Luke went quiet for a while before replying, "We have something to solve that issue but…"

"But what?" Zain and others asked.

"Follow me." Luke led the students through a secret passage in the base that led to the extreme bottom floor. Once they got there, a large secret door was opened, taking them further into a whole new section of the base. Unlike the original with six floors, this new one seemed to have about twenty floors, each being twice the size of the original. It was currently a hive of activity with scientists, engineers, technicians, and scrap collectors moving up and down all over the place.

"None of you is allowed to talk about this place. Everything that you see in here is to stay here. No one else must know about this, UNDERSTOOD!!" Luke commanded with a stern voice. The students all nodded in agreement as they followed Luke to the edge of the first floor.

"Stay close and don't move." The General pressed a couple of buttons that were under the guard rails as a blue, opaque bridge formed in front of him and the students. He then walked towards its end where an elevator rose from the bottom floor to where he was. "If you'll follow me, please." He said.

The students, who were far beyond excited, got into the elevator with General Luke as they couldn't but admire the technologically advanced design of the secret second base. The elevator suddenly dropped to the bottom at an alarming speed, causing Jason, Lilly, and Michelle to scream in fear while Zain, Hurt, and Luke kept quiet.

As they were following, more and more levels were being revealed to them, each one with its own special design to it. In total, there were about fifty floors starting from the top all the way to the extreme bottom.

The elevator slowed down as they got to the bottom, allowing those who were screaming to loathe in the embarrassment they set for themselves. So far, the second base was more than amazing for them, but more was yet to be seen.

"Oh…"

"My…"

"Word…" The bottom floor they were currently one was the biggest any of them had ever seen. It was so large and so wide that it could fit two of the original bases where the other Gifted students and military personnel were. The whole floor was currently noisy with sounds of welding, smelting, forging, and all other construction sounds echoed through the thick walls.

In front of the students were three colossal ships that were bigger than oceanic freight carriers. Although they were still being built, the students were able to paint a faint image of what exactly was being made.

"Spaceships." Michelle smiled. "Are you telling me we've been able to unlock space travel?"

"Not exactly, young lady." Luke responded as he led them away from the ships. "See, for decades this base and thousands of others across the world had been set up to help us design and create weapons, vehicles and other things that could be used to help us battle alien life forms if any were to attack. The Generals and scientists ahead of us tried multiple times to unlock space travel secretly…"

"Secretly?" Michelle wondered. "We've been seeing rocket launches and other things happening. What do you mean, secretly?"

"Those were decoys to keep the focus on them while we worked on this. Anyway, we tried many times again and again but we failed, that was until these species raided our planet a few months ago. Ever since then, we scavenged their wrecked pods, ships, and other technological materials they had, studied them and now, we're one step closer to colonizing the stars."

"Away from that, this is what I was talking about earlier." Luke and the others were in another room that was filled with jet like vehicles that could fit about twenty or more men and women. "Like I said earlier, no one can know about this place or these machines. This is a prototype. A few have been tested and they each worked well but we feel they're not ready to be revealed yet. However, given our current situation, we've been forced to use only one to locate and retrieve Ace and Sky."

Luke looked at the students and said, "Well what are you waiting for? Hope in. We have to get moving right away."

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