Chapter 1 - The Chase Begins

Five minutes. That's how much time Nicholas Santiago had left to reach his English class; his first class of the day. He was sprinting down the hallway, his sneakers squeaking rather audibly. He turned a corner and ran down the section of classrooms labeled with the numbers 20 to 29 and the letter A or B. His class was merely inches away.

He attempted to skid to a halt and inadvertently slammed into a girl, knocking her down.

"Aw, man..." the girl groaned as her orientation packet spilled its contents onto the floor.

The 16 year old sophomore looked around and began helping the girl collect the papers that were scattered around them. "Sorry about that. I was in a hurry to get to class and I didn't— wait... Raven?" He picked up the folder and noticed her name scrawled on top.

The girl looked up into Nick's brown eyes and smiled, the realization suddenly dawning on her. "Nick?" She gasped. "I don't understand. How are you here?"

"I go here now," he replied. "It's my first day. I was just trying to get to class." He pulled out his schedule. "English 48 with Ms. Peterson."

"33A?" Raven pointed at the classroom number posted near the door. "That's gotta be a coincidence. I'm in this class too."

Nick slowly got up and helped the girl to her feet as she stumbled into his arms. "You sure you're okay?" He asked. "You seem pretty banged up."

"I'm okay. Promise," she nodded. "Shall we?"

The two sophomores walked into class together, and sat down at a table close to the window that overlooked the parking lot. Soon after sitting, Nick got up to talk to the teacher.

"Ms. Peterson, I thought you were back at Headquarters trying to get our files back," Nick whispered, getting closer to the teacher so no one could hear their conversation.

"We have bigger problems, kid. We've got a code Echo-Delta in progress. They might show up any minute now. They're not only after us, but one of your classmates too," Peterson replied. Her gaze diverted towards Raven in the second row.

The 16 year old girl studied the black-haired boy closely, but then she noticed the teacher and the boy studying her back. She quickly turned away to talk to her best friend Melissa, who was seated adjacent to her table.

"What does she have to do with it?" Nick asked while looking at the girl, then back at Peterson. "You don't think she knows about the files..."

"I'll talk to you about this later. I've gotta start teaching," Peterson interjected before ushering Nick back to his seat.

Nick sat back down as his crosshair pendants rattled on the silver and gold chain around his neck. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, dark denim jeans, and a pair of all-black Nike sneakers.

Raven turned back over to Nick. "Hey, I know you told me this before, but what school did you transfer from again?" She asked.

"I transferred from Fall Brook High School," he replied. "It was... okay, I guess."

"You didn't really like it much, did you?" She chuckled.

Nick laughed. "No, it's not that I didn't like the school. It's just the bus ride going to and coming home from it. Just wanted to attend a school that was in the neighborhood."

Raven nodded. "Yeah, I get what you mean." She looked at the pendants hanging from his neck. "That's a really cool necklace, by the way."

"Thanks. It belonged to my dad. My uncle said he was very brave. Never backed down from a fight."

7:15 am.

The morning bell rang as Ms. Peterson left her desk. "Okay! So, welcome to English 3, 4! Here is the syllabus for the class. I expect that you'll return it signed by your parents and/or guardian as soon as possible," she said, handing each student a syllabus.

As the teacher walked around, the students eagerly chatted about their summer adventures.

"So, how was your vacation?" Nick asked, looking at Raven.

"It was awesome. I went to Universal Studios with my aunt over break," she replied, grinning.

"I haven't been there since I was 11," Nick replied. "I might have to persuade my uncle to take me back." He smiled and looked out the window as a black armored van pulled into one of the parking spaces.

Raven curiously glanced out the window and saw five men all clothed in black exit the vehicle. "Goddammit. They found me," she muttered. "I need to get out of--"

"Hey, pay attention, please. Stop looking out the window," Ms. Peterson said, looking at Nick and Raven.

"Sorry," they said in unison. Nick sighed and looked at his Apple Watch that was synced up to his iPhone. He pressed the on/off button and put the device into standby mode while Raven kept looking out the window, a worried expression on her face.

The men had disappeared, going into the building.

"Ms. Gonzales! Pay attention, please! What is so important about the parking-" Ms. Peterson stopped her sentence once she realized what was outside. She then turned her attention towards the clock on the wall. "Okay, um...  Everyone, please take a look at the syllabus I just handed you-"

The door suddenly burst open as the 5 men dressed in black charged into the room, quickly locating Nick and Raven, who had frozen in shock.

The other students started panicking and got under their desks.

One of the five walked up to the two students. "At last..." he said in a heavily distorted voice that would make James Earl Jones proud. "We've found you." The man pulled out a pistol and aimed it straight at the girl. "Now... You're gonna tell us where they are. Or else we'll force you to tell us."

The teacher looked over at Nick and then motioned towards the gunman's arm, as if to say, "Grab it quickly."

Nick silently shook his head in reply and quickly tapped a distress signal on his watch in Morse Code.

The man holding the knife noticed this and then pointed the weapon at him. "Seems a bit too late to be calling your boys for backup, isn't it, Santiago?" He laughed softly and grabbed Raven by the wrist forcefully, ushering her out of the seat as another man opened the door. "If any of you brats attempt to aid her in escaping... She goes kaput."

Raven kicked and scratched, attempting to make a run for it, but then the other two men grabbed her other arm and legs respectively while leading her out to the parking lot. "What do you guys want from me?" She asked, cautiously eyeing the gun.

"Keep quiet, you lil brat..." The lead gang member commanded, putting a piece of tape over her mouth.

Nick glanced back and forth between the van and his teacher. "Ms. Peterson..." He said, eyes pleading.

She sighed, and reluctantly let him "go home early", watching as he sprinted out the door towards the school's main entrance.

He slipped on a Bluetooth earpiece and turned it on. "We've got a code Romeo-Echo-Sierra-Charlie-Umbrella-Echo in progress," he said.

"You comfortable back there, Gonzales?" another gang member asked while looking at the girl. She couldn't speak or cry for help. "Alright, guys. Let's head- oh god, we gotta go now! Drive!!" The van's tires emitted a loud screech and started heading towards the parking lot exit. The lead agent then forcefully shoved a cloth rag dabbed in chloroform up to the helpless girl's face until she was rendered unconscious. 

Nick sprinted even faster, nearly tripping over his own feet, and managed to mount a tracking device on the back door of the van before it could drive away. He skidded to a halt and turned on his Apple Watch. "I need back up right now, guys," he said,

10 minutes had passed as a white and red van bearing a crosshair with the letters A, S, and O skidded to a halt in the parking lot.

Nick quickly got in the van and climbed in the back seat while the van sped out of the parking lot and made its way onto the 805 southbound freeway. "What took you so long?" He asked.

"We just got back from another mission," his partner, Samantha, replied. "Who are we saving?"

"Raven. She got kidnapped by Blackjack's thugs." Nick hastily put on a black and grey jumpsuit bearing a geometric shield and the letter S in grey trim which was similar to the pendants that he had been wearing. On his belt were several gadgets: a tracer, a pack of smoke bombs, and a pair of silver and black polycarbonate escrima sticks. He completed the look by donning a black and silver neoprene tactical helmet with tinted lenses, similar to the ones used by people that play paintball. However, this one was also equipped with a vocal modulator.

"You put a tracer on their vehicle, right?" Another comrade named Jet asked.

"Barely. I had to throw it on their trunk door. Luckily it stuck on."

"Alright. GPS activated. Let's see where they hid your little girlfriend," Jet joked.

Nick sighed. "Dude, she's not— never mind."

The overhead GPS displayed her current location: a warehouse on 8th Street in National City, California.

Meanwhile...

The five men forced a still unconscious Raven into a folding chair and tied her hands behind her back before nodding to each other.