The football players got back down into stance. White jerseys lined up against black jerseys. Bodies breathed heavily, their sighs forming a mist in the air. Cleats gripped as best they could, creating brown marks in the sodden grass. Orders rose through the fog, barking nonsensically yet making through to whom they were meant for. Then the three words that held the most importance cut through the air. "DOWN! SET! HIKE!"
Groans, roars, yells, arose through the air as the soldiers charged at each other. A clash of pads and helmets came like a roar of thunder. The coach yelled from the sidelines as the play completed.

On the running track, cheerleaders went through their routines, shouting in high-pitched wails to the nearly non-existent crowd. A dark figure sat hunched over in the bleachers. The young girls observed him, silently noting his description and planning on gabbing all about the mysterious guy on the bleachers. The cheerleading squad of this school believed itself to be the ultimate authority on every guy who lived in the state of New York. A new student? Not without their knowledge. He came across with a silent brooding attitude. Kind of like a character on a popular WB show, but because of already current copyright infringements, that character can only be inferred to.

The rain fell softly, more of a nuisance that a threat. The sky couldn't decide between mildly depressing and pissed off, so it went with annoying. Sender sat there, not watching the cheerleaders, not watching the football practice. He just observed it all on the surface, and as usual, had retreated inside itself. The internal dialogue went something like this:

What would life have been like�

OH SHUT UP?

Oh, leave me alone will you?

OH YOU NEED TO GROW UP!

Who asked you? I don't remember ringing your bell. So go back to whatever hellhole it is you crawled out of.

I AM THE ONLY BLOODY COMPANY YOU HAVE! YOU SHOULD BE GREATFUL WITH WHAT YOU ARE AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE. YOU SHOULD BE OUT THERE WITH THE OTHERS INSTEAD OF MOPING AROUND HERE WONDERING WHAT IF� IT'S BLOODY PATHETIC!

Can I ask a question?

WELL, I GUESS IT'S ALLRIGHT.

Why does my conscience speak with an English accent?

� I DON'T KNOW, IT'S YOUR BLOODY MIND. YOU BLOODY FOOL. YOU MUST BE DAFT OR SOMETHING. I SWEAR I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SEEN SUCH A SAD INDIVIDUAL. YOU AUGHT TO BE�

That was about the time Angel woke him up.

"Hey hun." She kissed him on the cheek as she braced herself on his shoulder to sit next to him. Sender shook his head as he came back to the real world. The cheerleaders got pissed.

"Um. Hi." He said. "God, I am getting bad. I keep letting you sneak up on me. Must be loosing my touch. Gonna have to leave you guys and retrain to get back into my groove." Angel looked horrified as he said it, but the grin on his last sentence kicked her out of it. She punched him in the shoulder.

"Better not. Who'd I beat up and steal Pez from?"

"True�" Sender trailed off, then spoke back up. "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?" Angel asked.

Sender nodded around them. "All of this."

Angel sighed, and her eyebrows creased. She took a deep breath "The time that I was there, it sucked. I was a total outcast and the only person I crashed with was TJ. Other than the time I spent with him, no I don't�" She faced him. "Why do you ask?"

Sender shrugged and stared at his shoelaces. "I don't know. You just always miss what you never had. I think� each of us misses a normal life that we don't have. I guess I just miss� being able to understand that�" He indicated in the direction of the school. "Sometimes� it's just� I�" He trailed off.

Angel nodded, and put her arm around his shoulder. "I know. I know. Come on, we need to get out of here. Those cheerleaders are giving me dirty looks." Sender nodded silently, and stood up to follow her. They walked silently, taking in the oddness of the world they lived in. Angel began to run off on one of the tangent thought that Dr. Freud told her to avoid. She couldn't help think that they were all characters in some strange persons imagination. She discontinued this line as Sender spoke up.

"How'd you find me?"

She shrugged. "DeGree and I were coming back from a movie. We saw your Harley parked out front here, and I decided to check up. He went on home. Something about F�nix and a Doom tournament."

Sender nodded at this and sat down on the bike. He handed Angel the spare helmet he kept in the small storage space under the seat. The helmets were simple in design, pure black, and set in the fashion of a knee-scraper bike. Small mike sets were mounted into the mouthpieces so the two riders could hear each other. The helmets were simple in design, pure black, and set in the fashion of a knee-scraper bike. She hopped on behind him, and set the helmet down on her head. Sender put his own down, leaving the black visor up. When the visor was down, it was hard to tell where the glass began and where the hard plastic ended. Angel wrapped her arms around his waist, and kicked up her legs. Sender nodded, gunned the engine, and throttled them down into the New York traffic.

They weaved through traffic, violating several New York regulations and countless ordinances. The cops however, recognized Sender's bike, and didn't even think about going after him. Several chases and car crashes had decided that. Angel watched the people as they drove by, and smiled to herself. As usual, the two WAD-Rs got allot of stares. Angel leaned over as Sender turned down towards Time Square. She spoke up.

"Hey Sender, the castle is the other way."

"I know� I think we are being tailed."

"Tailed?" Angel started to look behind her. Sender stopped her with a quick 'don't.'

"Stupid Code G. You'd at least think they'd get different styles of cars. Stand out so much. Oh well." Sender kept talking to himself. Angel shook her head, wondering what he intended to do about it. She thought over the options. There was a fast break down Time Square, cut across the financial district, and try to shake them. But Sender sounded as if he had something else in mind.

"Well� what are we going to do?" She finally asked.

"Call the castle. Let them know the info, and tell them to get down here to help us out."

Angel nodded, and pressed one of her fingers to the side of her helmet. The miniature radio inside set up a communications link, and dialed the number to the WAD-R castle.

Fenrir was up at a podium, using a pointer stick to indicate at areas of the chart behind him. The display was a tactical overhead map of Cuba, with red and blue arrows criss-crossing in a manor that would befuddle even Napoleon. F�nix, Garr, Shutat, Akari, Degree, and the newbies were all present. They stood in the back of the room. Their chairs were on back-order. The phone rang. Fenrir began to get annoyed. No one got up to answer it. Finally he yelled. "WILL SOMEONE GET THAT THING?" The change in volume woke up the WAD-R staff from their land of blissful slumber. Olivia, closest to the phone, stumbled over to it and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Olivia?"

"Angel? Where are you? I can barely hear you."

"Sorry." The background noise of the Harley's engine was muffled as Angel lowered the visor. "Look, me and Sender are in Time Square right now. We're being tailed. Sender told me to call in the reinforcements, so it must be bad. So get down here as fast as you can okay?"

Olivia nodded, and hung up. She turned around to the rest of the WAD-R. "So� Sender and Angel need us down at Time Square."

Fenrir turned to his display. "But what about my," he turned around, the room was empty. "Presentation�"

The motorcycle took another left turn, darting across three lanes of traffic. Sender grinned inside his helmet. "Hey Angel, aren't you an N'SYNC fan?"

Angel's grip around him tightened. "J.C.!"

Sender gasped for air. "Yeah. It's like 4 o'clock right?"

Angel whined. "TRL� Carson�" Like she was calling a long lost dream.

Sender nodded towards the heard of screaming teens rapidly approaching them. They were holding up banners offering to do all sorts of things to NSYNC and Carson, often for nothing at all. Across from them, parked at an intersection, was one of the trucks used that carried cars around. The loading ramp was down, and it was set to lift to the third level. Conveniently, it was aimed directly towards the TRL studio. Hehe� Sender thought. Time to get back for all those God-awful BSB videos they show. He banked the bike sharply, and pulled past the hauler. After he had gone what seemed a good distance, the brakes, and Angel, squealed as Sender brought the motorcycle around. He gunned the engine, and floored it up the ramp. As he hit it, he pressed a small red button with his left thumb, causing a nitrous oxide burst in the engine, speeding up the bike even further. At some point he yelled, "HANG ON," to Angel, but that detail was already noted. They took into flight, befuddling the Code G agents who just happened to pass underneath them. The bike soared over Time Square.

Carson Daily was having a hell of a day. The last thing he needed now was another one of the boy bands. As usual, the sound stage was filled with teen and pre-teen girls who always seemed to be able to scream at supersonic levels. I need another martini, he thought. Damn headaches keep coming back. All of the sudden, as he was announcing the next video, the girls began to scream. What the hell, he thought, and as he looked towards the masses to try to calm them down, one of the Plexi-glass windows exploded as something crashed through it. He heard a screech of tires and the sound of a low-pitched powerful engine idling. Carson turned towards the source, and his mouth hit the floor as he found a motorcycle sitting in the middle of his sound stage, and sitting on it were two riders who acted like they belonged there. The passenger, obviously female, got up off the bike and took of her helmet, shaking her blond hair down. The driver, a male, just sat on the bike, and with one hand removed his helmet, and looked around. Carson noted that the guy had an attitude of mystery, fear, and a bit of sadness about him. Reflective sunglasses hid his eyes, which was okay, because Carson didn't really want to probe as to what lie hidden them. These two looked like they could kick some serious ass if they had too. The woman looked out the window at their entrance and patted him on the shoulder.

"Nice, Sender. Real graceful�"

Sender shrugged and kept a hand on the throttle. The girl walked over to NSYNC, who were huddled over in a corner behind one of the TVs. She took in a deep breath.
"Ohmygodiamoneofyourbiggestfansiloveyouguysexceptyoujustinwouldyougivemeanyconcertticketsplease?Iwentthroughallthistroubletogethereandireallyreallywantthemandifidontgetthemsendermighthurtyou."

They looked at each other for a minute, trying to comprehend what this girl had just said. Gingerly, one of them held out two tickets towards her, afraid she might bite like a snake. "Here� take em�"

She grinned from ear to ear and snatched them. Shoving them in her pocket she walked over and hopped back on the bike. Sender turned towards Carson.

"Where are the stairs?"

Carson stared at him for a second. "Um� that way, second door on your left, hit the bottom floor turn right for the exit." He thumbed in the direction.

Sender nodded. "Thank you." He and the girl put on their helmets and Sender popped a wheelie as they road off.

DeGree barreled the armored van through New York traffic, narrowly missing an old woman in a Buick as he pulled up on the sidewalk, blaring the horn as people dove left and right. Part of him enjoyed it. Almost too much. Olivia sat in the passenger seat, working the CB radio, trying to hone in on Sender's motorcycle frequency. Garr, Shutat, Akari, Fenrir, and F�nix held on to handgrips in the back. There were no seats back there. They were trying to arm up while keep from falling down as the van rocked back and forth. "RIGHT!" DeGree yelled as the van shifted sharply, pulling up two wheels as it flew around the corner. Up ahead, two black cars sat staked out in front of the entrance to Mtv. "Well, there they are�" Olivia said. "Where are Angel and�" She was cut off as again, glass exploded and the Harley flew out into the sunshine. It wove between the cars, and darted out into traffic. DeGree floored the van, and pulled alongside. Angel looked up, smiled at him, and waved as if nothing was wrong. She raised two fingers, then five, then formed the letter C. DeGree nodded, then leaned over to Olivia. "C25." He said. She looked down and dialed in the CB. The speakers fizzled and crackled. A male voice, calm and smooth came on. "Check check check, you guys there?"

Olivia flipped the switch so the microphone could receive everyone. "Yeah." She said. "What's the deal?"

Angel spoke up. "Well, we are being followed. Two cars. You saw 'em. Sender has a plan of some sorts. Oh yeah, DeGree honey, I got those tickets to the NSYNC concert."
DeGree's groan could be heard throughout the cabin, followed closely by everyone else's laughter.

Sender cut through all the chatter, holding a business tone. "Okay, here is the plan. Angel will join you guys in the van, you'll cross through the finance district, run random, and we'll meet up at the castle. I'll try to take the other and shake him. You guys, use force as soon as you know you are in a less populated area. Got it?"

DeGree nodded to himself, if anything. Fenrir opened the sliding door on the side of the van, and he and F�nix helped Angel across. Then they watched Sender as he pulled away, and dove down a side street. As he hoped, one went after him.

DeGree sighed, and as he heard the door slam shut, he turned the opposite direction, and headed down into the heart of New York.

Sender glanced at his rear view mirror. Jeez, this guy was on him tight. Not much maneuvering room. He lowered his visor, and as he did, the computer display inside his helmet lit up, running diagnostics. It created a map overlay in the corner, mapping out possible escape routes. A gauge set came up in the lower center of the viewscreen, and a simulated rear view mirror appeared on the top, the threat car shown in a glowing red. He gunned the engine, and began evasive maneuvers.

The van flew down the financial district, riding up on the sidewalk, running lights, generally creating havoc. The Code G kept on them, and DeGree's lips thinned, as he knew what would have to come. He saw the proper turn off approaching in the distance, and veered the van across traffic. It tilted up again, but maintained stature as it hit the side road. A shortcut towards the slums, where no one would even look twice if something blew up. Everyone was prepared, Fenrir holding the rear door latch in his hand, waiting for a signal. Each of the members in the back carried nasty looking weapons, and were just itching for a chance to use them. Soon enough.

Sender leaned right as he headed towards the island. He drove between two trucks, trying to increase the distance between him and the black car. A red warning went off in the helmet, indicating a possible collision imminent. Sender shrugged it off and pulled away, heading towards a large intersection up ahead. A red light for him. Who cares? Should be fun. He grinned as he stood up on the bike, gaining more leverage. As he passed through the center of the intersection, the klaxon went off again, this time noting that collision was imminent. He looked to his right just about the time the 16 wheeler slammed into the Harley. His last memory was flying through the air, thinking: maybe now I'll get some rest. I love you guys� hope you get away� It all went blank as his limp frame slammed into the concrete.

The light of Sender's signal went dark on the CB radio in the van. But no one noticed because at that time, the rear doors were open, and an armament equal to Iraq was being unloaded on the unfriendly passengers in the car behind them. The car didn't take it too well, and promptly blew up. DeGree nodded at this and pointed the van down towards the rendezvous point. They stopped the van in front of a nearby McDonalds. Everyone looked at Fenrir, who just shrugged.

"I'm hungry." He stated.

Three hours later, they were combing the streets, looking for any whereabouts of Sender. At sunset, they found his Harley, all smashed up, almost beyond recognition and way beyond saving. It lay dead swept up on the side of the road. His helmet was lying next to it. The glass shield was cracked, and a small puddle of blood trailed from it. DeGree had pointed the van's headlights on the wreckage, and he and Garr were trying to figure out what to do with it.

F�nix, Fenrir, and Angel hovered next to the wreckage, hoping to find some traces that didn't exist. Olivia, Akari, and Shutat had taken positions and ends of the street to look for threats.

A small voice spoke in Fenrir's ear. "He probably isn't dead yet�"

Fenrir didn't move, but slowly nodded.

Jeffy continued. "Standard Code G procedure. Take them to one of the bases close by. Torture. Try to pump information from them. If they hold any value, attempt a mind-wipe. But they usually don't survive the torture. Sender is strong. He'll last two days, maximum. I am going to sweep the city, try to find out where they are storing him. Hehe. I am good for something� reconnaissance, and kicking your butt in Doom. Good luck, and be ready when I call." Fenrir could feel the air around him grow less dense as Jeffy flew off into the night.

Sender awoke. Every part of his body hurt, ached with pain. God, why didn't they just let him die. He tried to move, but then realized his hands were bound above him, clamped tight. He looked up, and found that he was hanging from a chain, about 2 feet off the floor. He could feel the dried blood on his face and torso. He looked down. They had taken off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers. Right now Fenny'd make some sick joke, he thought. Then the far doors opened, and Fenrir's jokes were not his most pressing concern.

His vision was blurry, but the figure marching into the room was familiar. Sender squinted. Oh, God no. The director. She strode up to him, stopped maybe two feet away, and looked him up and down like a player admiring a trophy.

"Hello project S941." She said, her voice ringing with fulfillment.

"I� have a name." Sender's voice was shaky. Must have broken up more than I thought�

She smiled in victory. "Not. Any. More." At that Sender closed his eyes. Well, I broke that New Year's Resolution. Pity, I was beginning to like life. Some. He coughed and tried to speak again.

"So� are we just going to chat about old times? Or are you going to kill me?"

She cocked her head to one side. A year hadn't taken away the fear he felt. "Hmm� Oh you are going to die. Just depends on� how� or when." She turned towards one of the men hiding in the shadows. "Agent, begin the� treatment." Sender closed his eyes. This was going to suck. Allot.

Jeffy watched overhead. The whole display he saw. If he had had a body, he supposed there would have been chill bumps. Fear. He had to stop this. He flew down to Sender, and hovered over his ear. "Don't speak." Sender didn't move. "We'll come after you. Hold out as long as you can." A rumble came from deep within Sender.

"Don't. Never� get by� security. Too much." He raised his head. "I'll be seeing you soon."

Jeffy shook his non-existent head, and flew out through the walls. He looked back as he flew, watching the outline of the Statue of Liberty in the moon. Somehow he knew� this is where Sender'd be. The guy was delirious. This was deeper than he thought; they needed to work fast.

Fenrir sat in the living room. Waiting. It was all he could do. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked these humans. They treated him normal� almost. As normal as anyone in WAD-R could be treated. He'd keep them around, for a while anyway. Besides, if Sender died, who'd he make fun of? The air thickened.

"Hey." Jeffy stated.

Fenrir stood up. "Find him?"

"Yeah. The base of the Statue. He won't last long. I think he might already be in delirium."

"Heh, that's normal."

"Not like this. He told me to let him die. This isn't good, there isn't any time left. Muster the troops, I'll go after reinforcements."

Fenrir nodded and ran into the war room.

The boiling hot poker stabbed into Sender's side, ripping apart the flesh and tissue, and searing it shut behind. The pain was excruciating. He couldn't see anything but red. His mind tried to shut it out, ignore what was being done, but it was useless. Trying to scream was impossible; his ribs had been broken, making it hard for him to take in air. Now he had steel pokers sticking out of him. Great fashion statement. The torturer looked over his work, and decided that was enough pokers. Now he was going to try something a little more archaic. He stepped back towards the case that had been set up, containing one of every type of torture implement known to man, and a few that weren't. Ahh, here it is, he thought. The classic Cat of Nine Tails. This would be fun. Ahh how I love my work.

The van rumbled to a stop on the wooden dock. Out stepped 8 human figures, each clad in black. A larger, more menacing figure moved out behind. Each carried several large weapons, as they looked across the bay, they could see the Statue of Liberty standing up against the moon. Akari stared at the water. "How do we get across?" Fenrir turned his head to the side, and was greeted with the site of an empty Coast Guard clipper. "Anybody know how to drive one of these things?"

Jeffy entered the hangar through the roof. Being a ghost does have its advantages. The towering mech stood dormant against the far wall, oblivious to his existence. He moved closer, examining it, wondering how to turn it on.

"Who's there?" Aries spoke up, still not moving.

"You can see me?" Jeffy stuttered.

"No, but I can detect changes in the barometric pressure of the room. You are a condensed point of air and energy. You do realize that Sender and I had set this place up with a very detailed alarm system. Now may I ask who and what you are, and why you are here?"

Fine, Jeffy thought, must have been playing Starcraft. "Sender's been caught. They have him holed up at the Statue. WAD-R is going to try to bust him out, but we will need your help. So if you don't mind�"

"Give me a minute. I need to finish this match� ahh good. Stupid Zergs, wont you learn that you will never win? Heh heh. Okay, let us go."

The clipper cut through the water, casting up spray everywhere in it's urgency to reach the destination. Angel and F�nix stood on deck, each manning huge 50-caliber machine guns that the clipper used in case of threats. Garr and DeGree were on the bridge, manning and driving the large boat. Akari, Fenrir, and Shutat prepped the weapons cache, trying to plan out a way into the Statue. Fenrir spoke up.

"Jeffy said he was going to get reinforcements, whatever that means."

Akari shook her head. "It would have to be a whole army just to get into the facility. Do we really expect to find him alive?"

Shutat growled, as Fenrir spoke back up. "Jeffy is optimistic, and that is something that's hard for a ghost to do. There must be some chance."

Overhead they heard a huge roar, as if a huge jet engine was landing on them. Angel and F�nix wheeled the guns around as fast as they could, trying to get a bearing on the new threat. The only visual was the plumes of fire as jump jets hovered above the boat, trying to find some place to land. A dark shadow, oddly familiar, comforted the group as the mech set down on the deck. DeGree yelped as his controls froze out, and a message scrolled across one of the radar screens. "Hi. I have control of the boat now. Go about planning your attack. �Aries." Garr briskly marched off the bridge, followed by a still shaking DeGree. They walked out and stood between the mech's legs with the rest of the crew. Everybody stared at Fenrir. "Reinforcements." He shrugged.

The boat slowed down and stopped on the shore of the island. The deck guns, now manned by Olivia and Akari, were trained directly on the doors to the statue. The mech stood silent, it's large array of weapons trained on the statue itself, ready to blow it to bits if it had too. Silently, the rest of the group slipped off the ship and made their way ashore.

Somewhere up in the head of the statue a guard saw a glimmer of light reflecting off in the dark. He grinned silently to himself. Good, like the director thought, they would come. Time to spring the trap. He pressed a button on the radio in his hands.

All the lights on the statue went on at once. The group was struck blind for a second as their eyes adjusted. Fenrir, Garr and Shutat roared as they charged the building. The deck guns of the ship opened cover fire, spraying bullets in every direction with a rat-a-tat-a-tat. Aries aimed at the head of the statue, where she had seen a flicker of motion. As a laser pulse flew from her arm cannon, the head of the Statue of Liberty was taken off with an explosion. Code G troops seemed to come from every outlet of the base, and havoc ensued.

Olivia held down the trigger on her weapon, bracing her back legs against the floor, swinging the gun in a wide arc, trying to give the others a fighting chance. Akari had a vantage point, and had proceeded to blow away any soldiers that tried to come out of the doors. In their headphones, they could hear a frantic F�nix speaking up. "We can't get through the door!" Aries answered "Move out of the way," and proceeded to blow a hole in the building that a tank could drive through.

F�nix ran through the compound, dodging this way, firing left and right, trying to go by the route that Jeffy had described to him. DeGree and Angel followed. Fenrir, Garr and Shutat had taken other routes, trying to find ways to cover their escape. Left here. F�nix pushed open a door and laid down a hail of cover fire as Code G troops tried to turn around. Angel and DeGree ran past him, searching for the correct door. Down the hall, the other set of double doors swung open, revealing Garr and Shutat. The ground underneath them rumbled as Fenrir came up, burrowing his way through concrete like butter. Angel gasped. "I think I found it."

Outside, Aries started her jump jets and made a quick hop, landing on the ground she proceeded to crush several troops. Small arms fire dinged her armor as soldiers emptied magazines at her. She turned towards them, and a hail of napalm lit up their world. They wouldn't be able to hold out much more. 2 minutes until Code G reinforcements arrived. She announced this to the rest of the group. "If you have found him, hurry up and get out. We need to evacuate, NOW!"

Angel didn't hear her. All she could do was stare at the mutilated body that she thought was Sender. His head hung down, breathing shallow. Three spears stuck out of him, at different angles, the rest of his flesh ripped and scarred. A large pool of blood had formed at his feet. He swung slowly, a human pendulum. Fenrir, behind her, narrowed his eyes. He could make out Sender's breathing, and his pulse. "He's still alive. Let's grab him and get out of here." He proceeded to cut the chains with a swipe of his hand, and catching Sender in the other. Garr yelled out from the entrance. "Cut off! Cut off!"
Fenrir looked around, panicked. There was no other way out� He stared at the fortified concrete� Hmm� man would he be hungry after this. He began to burrow, leaving Sender to be held by Angel and DeGree. F�nix hunched over, placing a package underneath the chains that had held Sender. "2 minutes." He said to himself, then turned and yelled to the others. "Let's go! Down the tunnel! We have two minutes to get out of here. And then he jumped down the hole, followed by DeGree and Angel, still struggling to carry Sender, backed up by Garr and Shutat.

Aries could see the plumes of jet engines. Too late� she thought. They were here. Well I think I should welcome them. She opened fire.

The weary group struggled up onto the clipper, still firing behind them. DeGree left them all and ran to the bridge, unlocking the controls and pulling the boat into reverse. "Go on," Aries said. "I'll give you some time."

DeGree yelled into the intercom, "you have a minute. F�nix planted something. Get out of there!" He swung the wheel around, the boat tilting to one side. With his other hand, he floored the throttle, lifting the boat's nose into the air. Akari and Olivia still sat manning the guns, waiting.

The Code G battalion landed on the other side of the island, trying to avoid the onslaught of the vicious mech. Suddenly, it all became quiet. The only thing worse than noise to Code G shock troops was silence. Gingerly, the first squad stepped onto the surface of the island.

Aries sensors suddenly went wild. A device had been detected by her outboard sensors. She analyzed the situation, and the pulses of the detonator's time lock. It wasn't good. She connected up with SatComm and began to download.

To the back of the clipper, night became day as the miniature nuclear device F�nix had planted went off. It enveloped the island, making it a small sun for around thirty seconds. The sound waves then hit, knocking everybody within a kilometer to the ground.

His eyes had glazed over. Whatever there was that marked him as a person had either died that day, or was hiding deep down under all the scars. The doctors had been able to remove most of the steel pokers, but like everything else; they still left holes inside him. The scars looked okay on the outside, but inside, there was still empty space. All he needed, more empty space. Someone had told the doctors that it had been a gang that had done it to him, when the physicians had begun to question the severity of the wounds. That had settled them. It took him close to two months to learn to walk again. Speaking was something much harder. As he lie in his room, Jeffy came in.

"Hey." Jeffy tried, forming some sort of greeting, but something was wrong here.

Sender just stared at the roof.

"Dude, you are going to have to talk sometime."

Silence.

"What's going on man? You made it out didn't you?"

"No."

"What?"

"No. I didn't. I wanted to die. I still do. Why couldn't I have just died? There isn't anything here for me. I was� am a project. S941. That's me. Four letters. A serial number. I got captured, and I relived the whole life. It isn't life. It's running away� And I am sick of running. If they kill me, I don't have to run anymore. Why didn't you let them kill me?"

At this, Jeffy left the room.

Later, reporters had called it a terrorist act that had killed off all traces of the rogue group. Ellis Island was closed for a year as a replacement statue was built. Jeffy, DeGree, F�nix, Garr, and Shutat went back to Doom. Fenrir went back to his Starcraft and other stupid role playing games. Aries had disappeared along with the rest of Ellis Island. Angel ended up dragging DeGree to the NSYNC concert, causing him to whimper for a week when any music whatsoever came on the radio. All in all, things slowly went back to normal. But Sender still wouldn't speak. Not until Angel went into his room and played Britney Spears over his stereo system. Then the words were something like "Can I please take the torture instead?"

In a hotel room in southern California. A young woman watched a CNN special on the bombing in New York. A conspiracy theorist was on, spitting out theories about who and what was the cause of the bombing. He played a clip from Mtv reels siting: "These two terrorists, who stormed a taping of Mtv's TRL have been spotted several times in relation to other 'incidents' around the United States." As the male on the Harley took off his helmet, the woman dropped her remote. It's him. She thought. As she shut off the tv, grabbed her bags, and stepped out into the sunlight, the back of her leather jacket could be read. Eve.

(and now i will be working on applications to college... fun fun)

The American Night written by the newbie Chris.