Chapter 5: A Magnificent Surprise

The footsteps approached loudly as they entered a dark, gloomy hallway rolled with blood red carpet with swirls underneath. The gray blocks of stone seemed to glow in the dark along with 3 pointed candles that seemed to stain the dark. A teenager around 15 approached a door filled with locks. The young man knocked on the door twice with loud taps, "Hey, the investigation finished already," he said with a reassuring tone.

On the other end of the door, footsteps slapped loudly on the floor as the door opened with a huge slam. Out came a man in his early 50s with a grumpy expression on his face stained with lines that indicate stress.

"What did you say," the man asked with a threatening tone.

The young boy, seeing his grumpy expression and threatening tone, stuttered, "U-U-Um, th-the report o-on M-Marielle W-Winston."

The name at the end perked the man's interest as he softened his gaze on his subordinate.

"Give me the full details on it," he replied impatiently.

The young boy sensing the change of atmosphere immediately regained his composure and said, "So from our intel network we found out that Marielle is currently 13 years old, 5'4", from the Winston Family, been in the Royal Academy for 5 years and has not done anything regarding any deals in any department," the boy finished off with a grim smile sensing something unpleasant happening.

The older man watched him finish and slammed the boy's head against the wall causing blood to flow from his head.

"I said to give me fucking info, not background info," he yelled in rage, "next time it's gonna be worse than a concussion, " finishing it off with a slam on the door. The boy pulled his head out of the rubbles caused by the collision and wiped the flow of tears that just would not stop.

"Dammit all, why do I have to work for that bastard, "he wiped angrily at his tears.

He left the hallway with depressing steps while walking to seemingly no direction. He came upon a door at the end of the hallway where he pulled it open and walked out into the rain, it was freezing. No surprise here this island is known as the island that does not stop raining due to the sky island above. He was not fazed by the cold at all due to the fact that he grew up on an ice island near Lars. He never thought that he would eventually land in Spade of all places, the place full of only the elites, not mere weaklings like him. He only wished for a normal peaceful life with no worries, just a peaceful life with the girl of his dreams. But no, life had to do him dirty and have him at the mercy of a tyrant. A sigh left his mouth, as he pondered about his life. After a while of just daydreaming, he decided to head back to the castle. He turned the knob around 3 times to guarantee full entry, since he came from the outside. Heading inside, he passed the hallway, he then came across a huge spiral staircase that rises up to floor 10. He smirked, this castle sure is weird, so many complicated passageways as if it is for escape only, the tyrant sure is paranoid after pissing so many rivals in the underworld, he thought evilly at the thought. The thought of the tyrant getting captured cheered him a great deal as he headed for the common room where all the workers for Plague. Inc met up and chatted about their most recent events. He slowly walked up the stairs and saw the huge fancy door that overlooked him as he stepped up towards the upper floor where he turned to knock on the door 3 times. He waited for a while for the door to open or a response from the other side but it never came. Seemingly puzzled, he tried to turn the knob and push it to see if the door opened or not. It turned out the door was unlocked as he pushed his way in, almost tripping himself in the process. He looked around the large room with wide eyes as he realized that scattered papers were everywhere with little to no trace of human presence at all. He started to feel moisture in his eyes as he realized what could have happened and yelled in frustration, "Dammit, that man really has done it," and unable to stop the welling of tears, they started dropping one by one towards the carpet leaving droplets of stains in its place.

Suddenly, a balloon popped from inside the closet and he immediately knew that the gang was using the hideout but this time in a closet since they didn't want the boss to find out. He smiled at the thought and went to the closet, opened it and descended the ladder that led to the floor of a cottage. He then saw everyone's faces filled with joy at the sight of him, they were all wearing party hats, boys and girls alike while balloons hung around every corner of the cottage. Banners were hung up and sprayed with huge words like "Happy Birthday Tate We Love You!"

Tate took all of this with a huge grin on his face. He couldn't stop smiling, he never knew he was this loved and the fact that his peers did this all for him moved him a lot.

A tanned boy by the name of Marco came up to him to clap him on the back saying, " You have really been through the mill, you deserve this celebration," finishing it off by flashing Tate a genuine smile. Tate smiled back at him, him and Marco went way back since when they first came to Plague. Inc on a "supposedly" academy trip where young kids throughout the ages 8-10 learn a bunch of scientific related stuff. The 25 of them came and realized that it was a bunch of farce. Instead of learning all kinds of science, the first 5 kids were subjected to a certain cell engineering experiment where they genetically engineer the kid's cell body system and to make them be like the infamous ETA but it all went to demise as all 5 kids ended up dying. Plague. Inc decided to ditch the whole operation and focused on making viruses instead to help countries at war wipe out their opponents with a simple mutated virus. The plan turned out to be a huge success as Plague. Inc racked up tons of profit by selling their viruses to various countries at war. This plan though, would not be a huge success if not for the perilous efforts of the 20 remaining kids that were taken in who gave them manual labor for long hours with little to no rest. Instead of sending back the kids to their parents after the failed operation, Plague. Inc's boss, Tahar Mohammed, decided to use them as slaves to boost up the speed of the production of the viruses. That was when all 20 of them became close friends after spending hours close to each other, hanging on to each other during the dark times. Tate was thinking about all this when a girl with pastel rose hair around his age came beside him with a gentle smile.

She noticed a red mark on his face then dried blood near the top of his forehead and gasped, the smile melted from her face as it turned to utter horror, "Oh my god, are you okay Tate," she asked with deep concern.

Tate smiled at her and replied reassuringly, "It was nothing, the boss just got mad at me for bringing useless info on Marielle Winston and decided to slam my head against the wall in rage."

She put both of hands in front of her mouth with an Oh No, type of expression and answered with sadness, "I hope you are fine, we have really been under the wings of that man for too long," she finished with a sorrowful face.

Suddenly, they realized the loudness of what was happening around them with shouts here and there since it was a party after all. Tate, realizing all this, decided to take her hands and tried to lead her outside the cottage.

"Sorry about this Eleanor but let's go outside," he said with a tint of red under his cheeks.

Eleanor, overwhelmed , quickly murmured a quick, "sure" before heading out with him. The moonlight shone bright as they headed out of the cottage onto the white sandy beach.

"You know I sometimes wonder if everything on this island is artificial in a sense," Tate asked suddenly curious.

"Artificial means man made Tate," Eleanor said amused with a small smile at the edge of her lips, "magic isn't man made so there is your answer."

Tate pondered for a bit and asked again, "Don't you sometimes wonder about those big what ifs in life Eleanor?"

Eleanor stopped walking and faced a sad Tate, no not a sad Tate, a Tate with nostalgic eyes. Even in the dim silvery moonlight she can feel the nostalgic feel from him.

She thought for a moment before answering, "I have, I have Tate," she repeated herself and continued staring into his eyes, "but what happened that day happened, we can't change the past, I wish we can but we can't so let's not dwell on the past it only does us more harm in the long run."

Tate stood there for a moment and decided to try to talk some sense into her, "I didn't mean that, I meant something along the lines of escaping this damned hell," he said, finishing it off with a determined look on his face.

Eleanor's eyebrows furrowed together as she replied angrily, "How can you say that Tate, you know what would happen if we try that," she asked rhetorically, "we would all die and I do not want that happening to any of you."

Tate smiled at Eleanor's response, this was so her.

"Think about this for a second Eleanor, sure it might be high risk but it is high reward, I for sure would risk my life just t o get out of this hell, and I am sure you do too., I am sure everyone does too, aren't you being a bit selfish? Those guys all have families that probably have not given up on finding them, how can you be like this Eleanor," he exclaimed dramatically.

That was when he knew he screwed up. Eleanor's eyes started forming tears around her face as she tried to cover them with her hands. She tried turning away from Tate and they both stopped walking again.

Tate, not sure what to do, tried to reach for her but she batted his hands away, "Don't, don't do it, I deserve this you were right I was too selfish," she said.

"No, no you're not, I am sorry for saying that, I should have never said anything like that," Tate said, trying to reassure her.

"Don't say sorry, it should be me but anyways I agree with you let's start an escape plan with the rest of them," she said suddenly energized and confident, having a brighter look on her face.

Tate, stunned at her sudden change, stuttered out an unsure "S-sure?"

Eleanor upon hearing Tate's confirmation flung her arms around him and said, "You are truly amazing, I thank you for changing my mind."

Tate looked at her in puzzled amazement and remarked, "Weren't you just crying," he asked bewildered. "Well, not anymore. I am happy now," she said matter of factly, "let me go tell the rest of them to come here and start a bonfire, we have a lot to talk about," when she finished she immediately ran off to tell the rest of the guys.

Tate, still confused, muttered to himself, "Girls sure are weird," finishing it off with a huge sigh while he awaits his fate.

—------

The memories burned into Tatum's mind as he flew over the castle, trees under him, the South Tower was completely obliterated while the ice froze everything in its path.

Plague Inc. was so long ago yet it felt so familiar. He still remembered his old self, idealistic, naive, and overall just idiotic. And then there was Eleanor. He remembered they escaped but he never heard from her again even though she promised she would contact him. He heard a rumor that said she went to Clover for school, part of the reason why he signed up for this mission.

Tatum was now an Alistar or Inner Circle of the Idealists at the ripe age of 17. Escaping to Spade was the best thing for him, he thought while fumbling for a crystal.

He willed mana into the crystal as it glowed brightly with a color of lavender as he spoke into it, "Crystal show me Eleanor." With a flash an image of Eleanor flashed into his brain as he saw a girl with pastel pink hair walking quickly with two boys, talking furiously about something.

It seemed to him that they were walking towards the South Tower to inspect the scene when he flew to the Central Tower where the crystal indicated for him to go.

He spotted a vast bridge connecting the Central Tower to the North Tower when he saw the three figures walking on it. He knew he would have to make a move as he flew in their direction with his mask off, his white hair swaying behind him.

As they came towards him, he surrounded the whole vicinity with a blue cube that surrounded them, muting all the excessive sounds except their own. They looked in confusion as Tatum jumped off his broom as his cloak flapped around him.

The girl with the pastel hair said with uncertainty, "Tate?"

The two boys around her gripped their fists with tension, awaiting a fight.

Tatum ignored them as he said, "Eleanor, it's been a while, I'm Tate, yes but they call me Tatum now."

Eleanor did not look surprised as she replied dryly, "Well, a pleasure I guess but what are you doing here," she finished with an unwelcome tone.

"To meet you of course, aren't we old friends," he said haughtily as if the word old friends has lost all its meaning. Frankly, Tatum knew she disliked him from the start, escaping without notifying him. He was an obstacle to her past that she wanted gone.

"I have my own life now Tatum, I don't need you anymore," she said with an icy tone, all mock friendliness gone.

The boy with spiky turquoise hair took this as a notion to fight as he asked, "Eleanor, can we cook this goofdog to meat, I'm hungry."

Tatum, who did not pay attention to the boys, gave him a look of pure vexation as Eleanor replied happily, "Sure! Skewer him to pieces while you are at it," she giggled at the last part.

The 2nd boy let out a yawn, "If I could get more sleep from this then sure."

Tatum's eyes flared angrily as he inspected the two boys clearly. His crystal was glowing madly as he took it out of his pocket and grabbed it firmly. The information came in a flash as he realized the boy with spiky hair was Rai, a 6th year, and the yawning boy with black hair was Cadence, a 6th year also. Lightning and air, huh this would be an interesting fight, he thought with sudden excitement as Rai immediately disappeared in a flash. Eleanor stood back with a smile while Cadence stood next to her.

He felt a zzt sound as Rai pulled back his arm with a dagger ready to slice his head off when Tatum's instincts propelled him to duck the blow as Rai looked with bewilderment not expecting him to dodge that.

Tatum immediately grabbed Rai's arm and twisted him into a somersault as he threw him towards the side of the bridge hoping that he would fall to his death. But Cadence had other ideas as his eyes closed with concentration as the flow of mana created a condensed mana layer outside the bridge to protect Rai from falling.

Tatum grudgingly thought with amazement as a non-smiling Eleanor took out her grimoire as she started scribbling on a page with a quill two gigantic magic circles in black appeared on both sides of her. Her magic was dimensional magic and she would be able to summon things from other dimensions, not just locations.

Two wolves sprang from the magic circle, snarling, one black and one white. The wolves were the size of a truck as they looked at Takumi with pure hatred. Cadence was not fazed by it as he was used to seeing the wolves, even befriending them. Without warning, Cadence opened both palms and blasted a crushing air blast formed with pressure at Tatum while both wolves charged behind him. Rai who recovered from the throw also charged up with thundergod boots ready to slash at him again. Tatum looked at the scene with calculating eyes as he immediately summoned a small blue barrier around him as Rai slashed at it with no use. The wolves tried to gnaw at the barrier with no success as the crushing air blast hit the barrier in the middle, doing nothing.

They looked in astonishment at the sturdiness of the barrier as he laughed, eyes shining with amusement, "You guys are much too weak to give this a baby a run for its money."

Eleanor glared at him while Rai whistled, "No offence though, we weren't trying."

Rai looked innocently at him and replied, "What, it's true though."

Cadence who took advantage of this moment summoned air steps under him as he jumped on it until he was high enough to overlook all the castle as he propelled himself downwards with speed.

Tatum saw Cadence coming towards him with his sword out as he enlarged the barrier aiming it at Cadence who tried to avoid it. Too late it hit as the barrier pushed him higher into the sky before turning downwards again as it forcefully slammed him on the ground, cracking it.

Cadence choked out blood while the wolves roared in rage as they stormed forward again attempting to break the absurd shaped barrier. Rai also attempted again as he blasted out three veins of electricity at it.

This time the barriers enlarged in their direction as it pushed the wolves forcefully away while reflecting the lightning bolts which Rai tried to dodge but failed to do so as three holes appeared in his robes, parts of his bare skin burnt red from it. He yelled in pain as he forced himself to stand up, face in a grimace. Eleanor, who knew that the wolves weren't enough, drew a magic circle on the top of her head with her grimoire. She willed enough mana through the magic circle to bring out a small mammoth tumbling out. The mammoth was like a baby but its eyes shone with intelligence.

Tatum looked with confusion at it and said, "Whatever you are going to try with that, I don't think it's breaking down my barrier."

She smirked at him and said, "Just watch", as with a wave of her hand the mammoth stormed forwards running towards the barrier as Tatum shaped it as a wall. The mammoth slammed its head on the barrier, the horns underneath its mouth denting the barrier as it reared its head back again and slammed it. This time it was successful as the barrier broke, Tatum reacted with concentrated eyebrows as the mammoth wrapped its nose around Tatum's body and threw him in the air while a Rai appeared from behind with a determined face.

Rai's hand was coated in electricity as he slammed it at Tatum's ribs. Tatum let out a yelp of pain as he flew over Eleanor heading towards the North Tower jutting out in between the bridge.

A small boom sounded as a huge crack and dent was shown on the top of the North Tower with Tatum falling on the ground. He got up slowly as he wiped blood from his lips as he looked at them with a heavy glare, his yellow eyes twinkling with blood lust.

Shit, these guys aren't playing around, he thought with slight fear as he knew his best plan was to take out the mammoth since it was the only source of threat to him right now, being able to break his barriers.

Before he could move, Rai materialized in front of him in a flash of blue as he swung a kick at Tatum's face with speed as blood spurted out from his face. Tatum flew back towards the side of the wall, destroying it in the process.

Shit, as he looked at the blood on his hands as he summoned a barrier around him again as he saw a flashing Rai as he threw two daggers of voltaic knives at him. Tatum enlarged the barrier at him this time with speed as he formulated the ends of the barrier into a fist as it slammed into Rai's stomach making him gag as the knives soared behind Tatum completely missing its mark. Rai flew outside the bridge again landing on the mana layer that Cadence had produced earlier on.

Cadence saw all this with a lazy expression as his hands started vibrating. Air waves started surrounding him as Tatum watched in anticipation. Soon everything was starting to be sucked towards him, Tatum felt his barrier being sucked in also as his feet were pulled off the ground flying towards Cadence as he tried to fight against it.

It was no use as Eleanor nodded at Cadence whispering something as the mammoth came running towards the Tatum being pulled in to Cadence. Tatum's eyes shone wide as he knew what they were planning to do.

But there was nothing he could do when he was about to hit Cadence, he stopped the airwaves while sidestepping letting the mammoth take charge. The tusks of the mammoth slammed, piercing the barrier cracking it leaving two holes for Cadence who prepared condensed air bullets made of mana.

With a flick of both wrists, two air bullets came soaring into the broken holes of the barrier at Tatum who looked at it with gritted teeth as he immediately conjured a barrier under his clothes to block the attack. The impact was still there but reduced as Tatum flew back a little falling down as he righted himself with a grunt.

Cadence and Eleanor stared at each other's serious faces as more whisperings continued. Rai suddenly appeared again behind Tatum who noticed a whizz as he swung his arm back and immediately grabbed Rai's arm as Tatum activated mana within, a technique that enhances a user's instincts and reaction time plus speed.

Tatum's grip tightened on Rai's arm as he pulled him close with it, then took his right hand and lifted him up in the air, his hand tightening on Rai's throat as he struggled.

"You see, you guys have angered me and disrespected me that I will take things more seriously now," Tatum said with an emotionless face as he looked at Eleanor and Cadence.

"You Clover people don't know how much we train in Spade, how much of a hell we have been through to get to this point," Tatum continued with anger laced in his tone.

"That is the reason why Clover will finally perish in this upcoming war that us Spade and other countries will finally rage on you guys. All the anger, all the bitterness finally unleashed as one. This war will be on a bigger scale compared to the first world war and we will make sure it is that way," he finished as he looked at Rai with a twisted smile.

Eleanor realized what he was going to do and yelled, "NO DON't!"

"Who's going to stop me," he said playfully as he encased his hand with a barrier around him and was about to slam it in Rai's face when he felt himself being restrained.

What the hell, he thought with impatience as he saw the wooden branches around him wrapping around his body.

He tried to get out of it when he heard a voice on top of him, "No use haha, the Timberwolf magic is much too strong for you to break out that suddenly."

A boy around 17 was above him on the top of the dome of the North Tower with white feathery wings behind him as he smiled evilly at Tatum who looked in fear at him

Timberwolf? He heard that they were one of the strongest mages in Clover who uses wood. If a Timerbwolf was to show up he was totally fucked as their wood counter everything he does.

A branch erupted from under the bridge as it brought a boy also around 17 with dark red hair, riding the branches as he brushed his hair looking around at the situation and said, "Cadence sorry I was late, Professor Janson won't leave me alone, Cooper is Alan here yet?"

"It's okay," Cadence yelled at Wharton, his back facing him as he looked around for Alan.

The boy with the wings spoke up with a cheerful expression, "No, I don't think-"

A sudden yell exploded from the sky as a tsunami of sand flooded from behind the North Tower flying towards them as it covered the North Tower with sand as Tatum felt the sand covering his head as he tried to block it but couldn't because he was restrained with the damm wood branches.

A boy was surfing on the waves of sand as he jumped off the sand tsunami as it went soaring into the outer edges of the area surrounding the bridge. He landed next to Wharton with a soft thump.

He looked around at and saw Tatum then grinned with eager and said, "Finally I got to meet you Tatum."