Five days to the Solar Eclipse
The next day was relatively bright and sunny to some, but not to all. As people in the city were waking up, attention was being turned to the graveyard and the large dome that seemed to pop up out of nowhere surrounding it. As people approached it, the Vazir drones warded them back by threatening them, and shooting them if need be.
"No." Keera replied. "I'm thinking. I'll continue to be thinking until my mother is back here safe. Leave me be."
Keera didn't reply and kept staring out at the ocean. A couple minutes later Tom walked up the stairs and over to her, looking out with her silently. The two remained there for what seemed like hours, looking off into the distant water, the girl worried about her mother and the man worried about the girl at the time. Suddenly Tom turned to her. "I know what you're thinking, that I messed up. I am thinking that too, Keera. But trust me, we will get her back. Annabelle will be returned to us. She always has a way of taking care of herself."
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"I have awesome information for you Tobias. Tobias, aren't you listening?!" Annabelle smiled. Tobias Corvan was resting his wounds and sitting on a chair just outside her room window, watching something on the television. Annabelle overheard the fact that they didn't have the capacity to create sound-proof windows with the time they had, and whoever was sent to watch her could hear every word she said. Annabelle was having fun milking it for all it was worth.
"WHAT?!?!?!" Tobias stood up and angrily walked to the window. "What is so damned important?!?!"
Tobias angrily looked at her and went back to the chair to sit. Annabelle decided to stand where she was and continued to stare at him. Every time Tobias looked at her she diverted her eyes somewhere else, but when he looked back to the television she looked back to him.
After five minutes of staring, Annabelle finally made a noise that sounded like her throat clearing. Tobias ignored her and continued to watch the television, so she made an even louder noise of the same type. "Psst, hey. I'm trying to get your attention. I'm trying to tell you that when Tom gets into this building, you're going to feel pain. So much pain."
"It's going to hurt so bad. I mean, he already this that to you, and his cousin punched you in the face earlier, so yeah. He's gonna punch you so hard that it will make his cousin punching you feel like she caressed your cheek.""
"CORVAN!" Dr. Vu angrily walked into the room, looking right at his wounded henchman. "You idiot! We have news helicopters encircling the graveyard constantly! I just saw a news report saying the military will try to breach that shield!" Vu then grabbed his shirt and pushed him back into the window Annabelle was standing near. She laughed at this as well, and continued to watch silently.
"Thomas Jameson was going to kill me! I had to raise the shield! He was a monster, I tell you! A horrible monster!"
Corvan angrily looked at her and then turned back to Vu. "Yeah, well you were busy and Jacob was nowhere to be found. Where is he anyway? I haven't seen him since last night."
"Jac-ob Thoom-pson." Annabelle said, sarcastically. She knew Jacob's real name was Jack Toomes, and wondered if these two knew it as well. "Mr. Benefactor. Mr. Awesome. Well he stepped out. Something about 'blah blah blah'... I wasn't listening to be honest. He should be back soon I guess. Maybe he's busy playing a game, like Parcheesi, Checkers, or Jacks."
"Or maybe he's at Corvan's home, raiding his fridge and going through his stuff. Though I'm pretty sure it's not a 'home' as much as it is a 'one bedroom studio apartment that smells like cats'. I mean, being an evil henchman can't possibly pay that much, right?"
"SHUT. THE HELL. UP!"
"You know if this were a hotel you would be fired for talking to your guests like that." Annie said, "And the whole, you know, 'kidnapping your guests' thing. But competition is fierce these days I guess."
"Can we please activate the poison. Please please please?!" Corvan begged to Vu, who simply motioned him away.
"So I'm bait. Lovely. Why do you want to know so damn much about Tom's parents? And why from him?! He was just a toddler when they died. What can he possibly tell you, that they did babytalk to him and changed his diaper? That's real worthwhile information, Doc."
"You don't understand!" Vu said, more upset than angry. "He told me he would help me! He told me I could find out the information I want to know! I trust him!"
"Who? Jack Toomes?"
Jacob snarled as he walked past. "When this is over you will be gone. As will Thomas Jameson and all your friends."
Jacob angrily growled under his breath as he turned towards Vu. Annabelle was clearly using his real name to stir him on, as he was very secretive about revealing his true identity to those in the base. He also wondered if Vu actually knew who he was, as he was about as intelligent as the green-skinned woman. When it came to the intelligence of Tobias Corvan, however, Jacob wasn't worried about him finding out on his own at all. "Doctor Vu, I see the shield is up now? A little early to establish it, the damn thing will attract the attention of everyone. I believe I am correct when I say that Corvan is the reason behind this?"
Vu spoke exasperated tone of voice, as if the world was falling onto his shoulders. "Yes. He tried to tell me that Tom Jameson was chasing him and was trying to kill him, so he established the entire base defense protocol to stop one man. Foolish person that man is."
Annabelle chuckled "Hey, Tom's tough. They say he can survive explosions. He once fell off a three-story house and walked away without a scratch. He surprises me constantly, like some odd Jack-in-the-box."
Jacob shot an angry look at Annabelle. "What's the status on the prisoner. Has she caused much of a problem?"
Jacob started to leave without saying a word. As he did so, Annie made an innocent waving gesture at him, and when he turned around she did another gesture that was not so innocent. Vu turned to her. "When I find out the information I want from Tom Jameson, I'll let you go. The both of you. I never wanted this."
Annabelle glared angrily at him. "Well maybe you should have thought about that before you bombed the city of Sunset Valley with meteors. If you never did that, I wouldn't be in this mess and neither would you! Everything in my life changed because of what YOU did. EVERYTHING!"
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"Annabelle's gone, she was kidnapped." Tom said to the family who was meeting in the living room. "We have to save her, and stop these villains from using the lamp. We have less than a week to do both. And if you don't mind, I'd like to save Annabelle within the next hour or so."
"We can't, they have the whole area around the place cordoned off." Deacon said. "You heard what the news reporter said, no one can get near that graveyard without those robot things attacking them."
"I could." John replied. "But who knows if it would work. Those robots, from what Deacon, Isobelle, and Tom here have told me, they seem pretty tough. Who knows what kind of protection they have, from EMP or other weapons. Now if we could capture one, and I could perform experiments on it, that would reveal some information about the things.
Everyone in the room simultaneously turned their heads towards someone standing in the room not far from them, as if knowing exactly what the girl in blue meant all at the same time. Mirabelle looked over at them and gauged their reaction to her words. Technically Kelly was right: Mirabelle had all the memories and personality of their lost family member, but since her "creation", Mira hadn't really used her strategy skills, letting Annabelle do all the work. Since Annabelle wasn't there, it was up to her to get the ideas moving.
"Let's get to work then. We have a lot to do between now and next week."
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"Damn that Vu!" Jacob said to himself as he stood in a building not far from town. "He's such a moron! Him and that Tobias Corvan!.I hate them! When I get that lamp he and everyone else will be bowing down to me or will be turned to dust, but the way things are going I won't even get a chance to get a hold of the thing! Tobias activating that shield is getting the attention of everyone across the region, and it would only be a matter of time before-"
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"What do you mean you didn't bomb the town?!" Annabelle demanded. "You told the police officers you did, you basically bragged about it! Was that some kind of lie? Or are you lying now?"
"I didn't lie. I just... well I did lie, back then. But I swear on my family I didn't bomb the town. I just took the blame for someone else! He bombed the town, he left the evidence behind in that park intentionally, and he told me to take the fall or he'd kill them! I swear to you, I was just a pawn!"
"Jack!" Annabelle grew cold and infuriated. "That man is pure evil! He is capable of things like that!"
"Dr. Vu! Come quick!" Tobias ran into the room interrupting his words. "Jacob Thompson's on the television, the internet, everything! He's threatening Starlight Shores with YOUR weapon!"
"WHAT?! What is that fool doing?!" Dr. Vu turned around quickly, forgetting what he was about to tell Annabelle, and walked outside. Before he left, however, he turned back to his captive. "Miss Kethrin, I am sorry, but I must leave. Think of me as a monster if you will, I do not hold it against you." With that, the two walked into the main room and watched Jacob's broadcast that was being aired across the entire region. When they left, Annabelle looked around for any type of way to escape the room and get back home.
"I am sending this message to you people for one particular reason: This city, and all of it's buildings, it's empty lots, and it's wonderful sign on the hill, everything is mine now. And as such, I am declaring you to leave my new home alone."
"There can't be too many people who can't recall what happened to Sunset Valley, California on March 5th, 2013. It was a world-wide news story. For those who do not know, the town was damaged by a meteor shower, killing fifty seven tourists, townsmen and women, and those lost in their ways."
"If the graveyard in Starlight Shores, California is approached by anyone, if the graveyard is attacked by the military or any other governing force, I will unleash ten times the amount of destruction that was set upon Sunset Valley. And if you don't believe me..."
Suddenly a familiar whirring sound came flying across the sky, heading towards the town of Starlight Shores. The meteor fell for miles before finally hitting a park on the opposite end of town. The entire town went into panic after this, as though they were finally coming to realize that he was capable of doing what he could.
"How?" Scarlett said, "You heard what he said, if anyone goes near the graveyard he'll destroy this town."
"From the panicking outside, I don't think we have to worry about that." Mirabelle replied as she walked back in the house. "People are packing up and leaving, even the military. They either are taking Jacob's threats seriously or they don't want to take him seriously."
"Should we evacuate as well?" Cassie asked. "I mean, do we?"
"Then it's simple. We fight back." Scarlett said. "I've been eager to knock some heads together. Or robots. Doesn't matter to me. As long as my best friend is captured by them I will do what it takes to wipe them all completely out!"
