Honestly, is anyone surprised I was a butt and didn't update? Not me! I'm so sorry. Things got away from me and I just got so busy. But luckily, I'm in a bridge between winter and spring sports, so an update...? I'll try to get on top of it, I promise!

But in better news, Stuart Gibb's other series book Lion Down came out! I haven't read it yet but I'm just 124 in line out of 4 copies. Yay. So don't spoil it! :)

Also, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for well over 1K views! I mean, just wow! A lot of authors say this, but I truly mean it: this is a huge deal and I can't thank you guys enough. Seriously. Anyway, enjoy this VERY LATE update!

After Joshua finally calmed down, he started barking orders.

"Everyone out! OUT! This is no time to be celebrating! We have failed! Mr. Dorenboard! A quick word with me. Everyone else, OUT! Oh and someone bring that rat, Ripley, out of here! I would like to talk with him later. It is his fault our calculations were off. I can't believe we did not execute properly because of our own incompetence! Oh and-" Joshua finally stopped shouting when he realized his boss was in the room, "Mr. E, I am so sorry. Let me humbly apologize for this, erm... mishap in the plan. I assure you though, our client will not be deterred. We still, um, sorta, did what they asked. But I would like to point out that this was out of my reach. It was a calculation problem or something was wrong with the missiles themselves." Joshua looked like he was sweating. He obviously feared this man. I wonder how powerful this man actually is.

Mr. E did nothing, but cock an eyebrow. "Out of your reach, hmm, Mr. Hallal? That is quite interesting, seeing that you were in charge of this whole mission and we had very important clients to attend to. I will have to make note of yet another failed mission of yours. And our clients must hear about this. Or perhaps they already have. It is sure to have made nation news now. To mishap... I'm afraid that is not a big enough word. Fix your mistake, Joshua, or face the consequences. Now everyone, back to work." In one sweeping gesture, he left the room.

No one moved for a few seconds. They were all looking at Joshua expectantly, who stood looking defeated and stressed.

"You heard the man!" Joshua finally snapped, "Get back to work!"

It was like a switch was flipped. Suddenly, everyone frantically got up and started doing stuff. Some guards came to my chair, looking furious and demanded,

"Get up! We're taking you to your cell."

My hands were still handcuffed to the chair, thus not being able to get up.

"I can't. I'm tied to a chair."

The guards exchanged embarrassed looks and the bigger one snapped, "Of course! We didn't mean it like that! It was a figure of speech! Wow, our tax dollars going to poor education. Don't you know a joke, kid?"

I said nothing as they unlocked my handcuffs. But in my head, I was thinking about how dumb he is. Number one, I doubt he even pays taxes. He doesn't seem like a guy to follow the rules like that. Number two, 'Get up!' is not a figure of speech. And a joke is not any part of speech. Maybe you should worry about your own 'poor education.'

After I was unchained, I could finally move. I stretched my aching legs and the guards roughly grabbed me by my forearms. They started parading me out of the room as I heard Joshua screaming curses at Dorenboard, the SPYDER agent who blamed me for the missile failure (which is technically true, if I do say so myself.) He was in hot water with SPYDER because apparently he check my calculations and said they were correct.

I snuck a glance over my shoulder and saw Joshua screaming, Dorenboard on his knees begging, and Audrey pointing a gun right at his forehead. Audrey had this blank, merciless expression on her face that chilled me to the bone.

The guards shoved me out of the room and as we turned the corner, I heard a deafening gunshot and a pierced scream.

"Aww, crap," one of the guards mumbled under his breath, "Nelson's dead. When that pretty girl shoots, ya know she's not joking 'round."

I just shuttered and let the guards lead me away.

As the guards were shoving me down the hall, I saw a familiar face.

"Ben!" Zoe shouted as she saw me down the hallway. She wasn't flanked by guards at all. Zoe was merely getting a drink of water from a water fountain. It didn't seem like she was being treated poorly at all.

"Hey, Zoe," I reply quickly. The guards stop to let us talk since they didn't seem to care about me at all.

"Where have you been these last few days? We've all been eating and staying together. But you've been MIA this whole time! What's up?"

"SPYDER has kept me separate because I accidently helped them with their scheme." I reply simply. I didn't want to get into those details right now.

"What?! They had a plot? What did you do? Are they defeated?" Zoe asked in panic.

"They were trying to bomb what I think was Russia, the US, England, France and China. I did the calculations but they screwed up the information they gave me. So technically I thwarted them, but didn't really do anything."

Zoe gave me a big grin, "I knew you could do it! But why? Why those specific countries? Why not, I don't know, Germany?"

I shook my head, "I have no clue. But I saw the leader of SPYDER! Mr. E! He was-" the guards cut me off by shoving me down the hall.

"That's enough conversation. Now move." But I didn't miss how Zoe's eyes widened. She mouthed, talk to me later.

I nodded and the guards flanked me to my room.

XXX

It wasn't a room, it was a cell. There were no windows, a small bed, an ancient clock and a giant steel armored door. That was it.

They shoved me in and locked the door. I could hear the locks clicking into place. There was no way I was escaping.

So I sat. I thought. And I plotted. For a looong time.

So, I, in theory, thwarted their plans. Joshua looked quite pissed at me. But Mr. E didn't seem concerned at all. Like he wanted me to thwart them. And that made no sense. They were obviously being funded by someone rich and powerful for those expensive weapons so SPYDER's client wouldn't be too happy with the fail. The only possible outcome was that Mr. E wanted Joshua to get in trouble, since it was his operation, and blame it on me. But this Mr. E didn't seem like the kind of guy who would try to set someone up. He seemed like the type to publicly shun Joshua, so I don't know anymore.

I was getting hungry. I hadn't eaten all day and I was used to eating about twenty times a day-like any growing teenage would. But it was like the universe heard me and a plate of food came sliding under my door. There was a glass of water, a stale piece of toast, leftover spaghetti (because there was all sauce and no noodles) and surprisingly, a fortune cookie.

I grabbed the tray, ignoring the fact that it might be poisoned and dug in. The spaghetti *cough sauce cough*was actually really good. It was creamy with some carrots and zucchini in it. The bread, however, was stale and seemed to be garlic bread at one time but was a few weeks past its prime. The water was, well, water. I grabbed the fortune cookie. It was kinda weird they gave me a fortune cookie since it was Italian food, but mixed cuisines have been popular lately.

I don't really like the cookie, but I always read my fortune, so I broke the cookie open. Inside was a handwritten note.

Meet me outside the control room you were in today. 0300. Push your door open. It should unlocked. The hallway will be abandoned.

I wouldn't trust anyone else, but the note was written in Erica's handwriting. Good. She must have stuck around since I'd last seen her. I needed to talk to someone else about my thoughts.

XXX

I didn't really get good sleep anyway. I stayed half awake the whole night, so when 0300 struck, I was ready.

About fifteen minutes before 3 AM, I heard some thuds and muffled screams. Erica. She must be taking care of the guards in front of my door. Even though I wanted to get up and find her, she must have had a good reason for 0300, so I stayed put until 0255.

I hopped out of bed and prayed that touching my door wouldn't raise an alarm. Erica came through for me and the door swung open easily.

Outside my door, there were two agents knocked unconscious with some nasty bruises on their faces. I cautiously stepped over them and snuck down the dark, empty hallway.

After a little while, I heard a noise. Alarmed, I hit the ground. I stayed absolutely still and listened more closely. It didn't sound like a person, but more like a TV.

Sneaking down the hallway on my hands and knees, I followed the sound. Finally, I found an office where the sound was coming from. Right as I got there, I realized that might have not been the best idea to go towards the sound, but my curiosity got the better of me. I stayed right under the window that went into the office from the hallway, careful not to be seen.

A series of unfortunate events happened today at around 6:00 AM in the countries of the United States, China, Russia, England and France. My name is Sydney and his name is Clint. On this Monday morning, some thermonuclear missiles struck very popular cities in these countries including San Francisco, Beijing, Siberia, Paris and London. Officials are unsure of the motives of these attacks, but can only assume they are terrorist attacks. By who is anyone's guess. Earlier today, Clint spoke with the head of the Armed Forces, Jason Burlock, on the issue.

I sure did, Sydney. Burlock said, and I quote, 'These missiles are highly dangerous and very expensive pieces of weaponry. They are completely illegal for a third party to obtain in most countries and in the ones they aren't, well, I doubt anyone could afford them. Someone powerful and rich must be supplying them and that scares me.' That's right. It scares me, too, don't you think Sydney?

Yes, I do Clint. The whole world is up in arms right now and there was even a surprise United Nations meeting called for Friday right here in Washington DC. The five targeted countries are some of the most major countries in the UN, so it would make sense. But as we wait until then, many countries around the globe are readying their armies and nukes, preparing to fight back. There will be more information as this story develops. This is FSNS, goodnight everyone.

That's what the TV said. I took a breath. Wow. SPYDER really caused a worldwide crisis, just like they wanted too. But right now, I needed to get out of there.

"Well done, it worked." I heard Mr. E say through the door. I stopped cold. There was no way I was going to risk moving when Mr. E was right through the door. I just hoped that they didn't hear me.

"Thank you sir," Joshua replied. Joshua! The whole thing in the control room must have been an act! They seemed to be on the same page.

"It was perfect how Ripley got the calculations wrong. A minor hiccup, but worked nonetheless. Our client is happy and now everyone else thinks we have failed. We just have to execute the final step and we will run away rich."

"Of course sir. It is brilliant."

What was happening? Was Mr. E and Joshua running a sideshow to make themselves rich? If so, why? And what was the final step? There's more to the plan? And what does the UN or those countries have to do with it?

Suddenly, I realized I didn't hear the voices anymore. And the door right next to me started to creak open.