Hello again everybody, I know you guys have been waiting, and here is the next chapter. When we last left Alex, he and Violet were going over the evidence they collected from the prison cells. After a meeting with Doc Sunbright, he informs them that the agency has been looking for them for years and has been headed by a supervillain, and gain his trust as an inside ally. What else will they find? Well you're about to find out. Enjoy.

Chapter 21

"I'm telling you I totally killed it out there," said Travis as he took a sip from his drink. All of the participants were in the cafeteria on a lunch break, after spending most of the morning in the training grounds. At one of the tables, Alex, Violet, Travis, Donna, Napoleon, and Marko sat together, talking about the training they went through.

"Really?" Tia asked with an eyebrow raised "Says the guy who got his butt kicked in the sparring ring." The kids around the table chuckled while Travis just rolled his eyes.

"Well at least I had to go through a maze of lasers," Travis says to Donna, referring to a previous exercise that he had previously gone through during the sessions.

"You're just jealous that I can kick your butt any time," said Donna.

"Whatever," Travis said as he looked back at his sandwich and took a bite out of it. Donna just shook her head and continued to eat as well. It was silent at the table until Napoleon, who was looking over to another table; spoke to the rest of the group.

"Hey do you guys think that Alex and Violet are ok?" Napoleon asked them.

"I'm sure those hits they took probably weren't too bad." Travis said to him.

"It's just that they seem to have been fine," said Napoleon "They didn't look too hurt."

"Why don't you go talk to them," said Donna "Maybe they can explain a bit to you."

"Alright, I guess I can talk to them," said Napoleon "I'll be right back." He got up from his chair, and began to walk over to where Alex and Violet were sitting.

Meanwhile at the table, Alex and Violet were eating their food while they both took time to process and think about what Sunbright had told them about Syndicate. To think that this mysterious group had been around for a while now, even before the supers ban was lifted was just surprising to them. Violet took another sip of her water before she looked back at Alex, who was already eating his sandwich.

"Do you think that it's really them?" Violet asked him. Alex looked up from his plate to face her.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked her. She leaned in closer and whispered to his ear.

"Do you think that these Syndicate guys are as big as they say they are?" she asked him.

"It seems like it," said Alex "They've been around for a while so they must have taken the time to get bigger and bigger."

"I'll bet," said Violet "I guess they picked this place as their next target."

"Looks like it," said Alex "But I'm wondering, how did they know about this place, and how did those guys get into the base without getting spotted?" he continued to ponder in his thought, and one of them was about to answer until a voice came up right next to them.

"Hey Alex, hey Violet." Both teens turned around to see Napoleon standing near them. They were both surprised that he had come over.

"Oh, hey Napoleon," Alex said to his friend "What's going on?"

"Not much," he replied "I was just wondering if I could talk to you guys." Alex and Violet looked at each other for a moment. They didn't want him hearing about their situation and discoveries, or they would risk getting him dragged into the situation. Alex looked back at Napoleon and decided that he should at least talk to him.

"Sure, you can talk to us if you want," said Alex "Take a seat." Napoleon nodded and sat down on a chair, seating himself right next to Alex.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Violet asked Napoleon.

"Well, I had seen the hits that you guys took during the training sessions and I wanted to see if you guys were alright."

"Yeah, we're totally fine," said Alex "Why do you feel concerned?"

"Usually a checkup doesn't take that long," said Napoleon.

"We got into a conversation with Sunbright while he was treating us and we kind of got caught up in it." Violet said to him.

"Oh, I guess that's reasonable," said Napoleon "So what were you talking about?" Alex stopped for a moment before he answered. "He was just talking about a few things that he was working on, and I think we were caught up in it for a little bit." said Alex.

"Really?" Napoleon asked, to which Alex nodded in reply "Like what?"

"Well, he said he was working on an advanced X-ray machine and some new medicines he made for supers." Alex replied.

"He was also told us a bit about when he used to treat some of the older supers back in the day." said Violet, adding a bit to what Alex said.

"That's pretty cool." said Napoleon, who was convinced by the lies ¨I'm just looking out for you guys, you know¨

"It's totally fine to look after friends," said Violet ¨don't worry about us too much." Napoleon nodded, and after finishing their lunches, the bell rang, and everybody got up and headed for the exit, throwing out any trash along the way. Alex watched as Napoleon rejoined the rest of the group, while he and Violet walked together to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Are you sure we should have done that?" Violet asked him ¨I mean we both just lied to someone.¨

"I know, I didn't want to lie to him either," said Alex ¨But I don't want everyone else to be drawn into this, especially since you already are.¨

"I guess you're right," said Violet "It would be a risk, especially since my brother is here too." Alex nodded in agreement, remembering her brother Dash.

"We just keep this to ourselves for now," said Alex "and if there is anything serious…"

"We tell Doc Sunbright about it and he'll tell Mirage," Violet said, finishing her friend's sentence "I remember you telling me that."

"I do too," said Alex "And I don't think we'd want to forget it either." He looked at the rest of the group, which were ahead of them before he looked back at her "Let's go, our friends are probably waiting anyways." The two teens then quickened their pace as they caught up with the rest of the group and continued to follow them down the hallway without saying a word to anyone.

Later in the afternoon, the participants had just traveled out into the jungle area for another group training session, which was a trust exercise that Eric said he had come up with himself. The sun was just beginning to sink to the horizon, and Eric stood in front of all of the participants, while behind him was a large wall that was built right into the rocky hill. The wall was long and separated into 10 parts, had poles and wedges built onto it for climbing, and at the very top was a platform that had a set of gates in front of it for protection. All of the teens and preteens looked at it in awe and curiosity while Eric just smirked.

"Alright listen up," said Eric "Most times when you're solving a problem or fighting crime yourself, it can be a bit of a challenge, but when you're working with another super or with a group of supers, teamwork, is the most important thing." He then turned halfway so he would be facing both the participants and the wall "For tonight's team exercise, you will be paired into groups of two or three, and try to scale that wall."

"I take it that it's not going to be that simple?" Napoleon asked Eric.

"You guessed correctly," he said as he paced around the wall "On these small pieces that you will use to climb up, there will be a surprise or two that will pop out at you. When that happens, you will not only have to figure out how to avoid them, but also trust your teammates to get you out of the situation and get you all to the top of the wall together. Everybody spread out and pick a partner." As soon as he said that, the participants all went around picking partners, with Travis going with Marko, Napoleon going with Dash, Victor going with his sister Bethany (which was no surprise) and many others picking their partners.

"Hey Alex," said Travis "You want to be with me and Marko?" Alex looked at his friend for a moment, and then back at Violet for a moment. He saw that she was already with her friend Tia and picked her as her partner. Alex knew that he had spent a lot of time with her recently, it wasn't bad, but he felt that a time with some of his other friends wouldn't hurt that much. Plus it would also be a good way to be trustful with them as well. Violet saw him looking at her, and knowing what he was thinking, nudged over to where Marko and Travis were, encouraging him to go with them.

"Yeah, I'll go with you guys." Alex replied. With his decision made, he turned around and walked towards where Travis and Marko were. Meanwhile, 10 feet away, Violet looked at Alex as he joined up with his two friends as partners for the exercise.

"About time," Tia said to Violet. The black haired girl turned around to face her friend.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked her.

"You've been spending a lot of time with him lately," said Tia. Violet looked at her friend with an eyebrow raised.

"Is that a problem?" Violet asked again.

"No, I'm glad that you've been spending time with him," said Tia "It's just you don't seem to have time for the rest of us."

"I haven't forgotten about you," said Violet "Alex and I were just doing some extra practice that's all."

"Really?" said Tia "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," said Violet "I was getting to know him better and we've been becoming close." Tia looked at her before she got what she was saying.

"Alright," said Tia "if that's what it is."

"I swear it is." said Violet.

"Ok, I won't get snoopy about it," said Tia "I don't mind that you've been". Violet rolled her eyes before a shout from Eric came over them.

"Teams, take your marks," said Eric "The game is about to begin." All of the participants that were partnered up heard him and all headed down to the starting line that was just in front of the wall and got into position so they would be ready. Alex looked at the wall and the others at the starting line and felt that he was ready and up to the challenge.

"You guys ready for this?" Alex asked his teammates.

"I've been ready for a lot longer than you think." said Marko who then looked at Travis "Are you ready?"

"You bet I am" said Travis. The three of them and everybody else straightened themselves out and waited as Eric walked to the side of the finish line, facing all of the participants.

"Now I want a nice clean game, from all of you," said Eric before he pulled a gun out of his belt "teams ready" he raised the gun in the air and everyone was getting anxious "set" after another minute, the gun went off. All of the teams ran straight towards their specific spots at the bottom of the wall as fast as they could so they could start climbing. Alex led Travis and Marko to their spot at the base of the wall, where Alex then took the first branch and started to climb up the wall, with his two teammates following suite.

Suddenly as they continued to climb up, one of the branches that Travis clung onto slipped into the wall, and he almost lost his balance until Alex, noticing this, reached out and grabbed Travis's free arm, saving him from falling.

"There's our first surprise," said Marko.

"Looks like Eric wasn't joking when he told us," said Travis, feeling a bit shocked from almost falling.

"Don't worry guys, we got each other's backs on this," said Alex as he continued to climb "We need to keep moving."

"Yeah come on, we can do this," Marko said before they all continued to climb up the wall. Alex looked at the other groups that were climbing and saw that they were encountering some of their own booby traps. They ranged from the disappearing stones and branches like they saw, to holes shooting out water or extending a branch in front of them to knock them off balance. Alex and his group continued to climb, and knowing about the booby traps, made sure that their guard was kept up and their eyes on the wall so that when another trap was triggered, they would let each other know.

"Look out!" Alex called out as a large plastic rock came from the top and was heading straight towards them. In an instant, Alex shot out his hand, and an energy beam caught the rock and Alex gently lifted the beam down before he and his teammates continued. Marko and Travis were catching up to Alex and soon they were all climbing up the wall next to each other, climbing fast but carefully to maneuver their way through the traps. A small hole opened up in front of Marko, and acting on instinct, he swung his body to the side before a blast of water shot out from the hole, and when it stopped, Marko kept climbing.

"They just keep coming and coming," Marko said to Alex and Travis.

"We're almost to the top," said Alex ¨Just keep climbing¨ sure enough they were getting closer and closer to the top of the wall, where a pole that was posted on the top counted as the finish line. Alex looked and saw that the other teams were in a similar position, some of the team's members were a little behind them, but were all catching up to the others as they were climbing closer to reach the top and the finishing point of the challenge. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Alex could hear a distant sound from the distance, followed by what looked like two small blasts hitting the wall right next to Alex. He nearly lost his balance from the impact of the shots hitting close to him and almost fell before he caught a long branch next to him, saving himself

He looked shocked, not knowing where this sudden impact came from, but he knew that it wasn't from the wall. He turned around and in the distance; he could have sworn that he saw a figure hiding in the trees before it disappeared, without anyone else seeing it.

"Alex, come on!" Marko called to him. Alex quickly snapped out of his thoughts, and looking up, saw that his teammates were a foot away from the top, and about two teams had already reached the top. He wasn't that far behind, but he continued to climb as fast as he could until he caught up. The three quickly made it to the top and Alex grabbed the pole, causing an alarm to go off, and signaling them as the third team to have made it to the top. All three of them took a breath, exhausted from the climb, and waited until the remaining teams made it to the finishing point, ending the challenge.

"We made it!" said Marko.

"We did," said Travis "What a rush. That sure was some wall we went up, right guys." Marko nodded, and Alex was taking a breath before he turned to his two teammate.

"Right," said Alex "You guys did good out there,"

"Thanks man," said Marko "You weren't so bad up there yourself."

"Yeah thanks," said Travis "It was you that led us to the top." Alex smiled a bit before he gave both teammates a high five, and went back to catching his breath. While he stood there, Alex couldn't help but think about the strange figure and the supposed shots that were taken at him. He was wondering if it was part of the exercise or if anyone else noticed, but pushed that thought aside as he turned back to his teammates, who were satisfied about making it to the top. As soon as they all finished cooling down, the participants all listened to Eric as he made an announcement.

"Excellent work," said Eric "You've scaled the wall and trusted your teammates to lead you to the top. Report back down here for a little rest and evaluation." Soon, a set of elevating platforms came up on the other side of the wall to the top of each section. The teams, each in their own section of the wall, walked over to the platforms, and once they were all on, the platforms descended to the bottom of the wall, where a trail that led back to the starting point was present. Once they made it to the bottom, the participants got off the platforms and walked down the trail to the spot where Eric was waiting for them.

"You all were successful in this challenge," said Eric "It just comes to show that no matter what situation you are in, it's always best to trust the super you are fighting with. That's all for tonight, you are all dismissed" The participants nodded as they all began to talk to each other while they walked back to the pods. Alex would sit with Napoleon and Travis again as the pods made their way down the tracks and back to the base.

A few hours later all of the participants were in the mess hall for dinner, and since the wall challenge ended no less than an hour ago, it couldn't have come at a better time. All of them were hungry, and got their food before they went to find a seat. Alex was glad that he and his teammates did a good job, but the sudden incident that he faced during the challenge wouldn't leave his thoughts. He got his tray of food before moving into the eating area, looking for a place to sit, he saw his friends and a few others sitting at a long table, and he walked over to join them. The group then took notice of Alex coming, and greeted him as he sat down.

"Hey Alex, how's it going?" Napoleon said to him.

"It's going good," Alex replied back "How did you do on that wall?"

"I did pretty well," said Napoleon "Me and Dash came in fourth place right behind you guys."

"That's not too bad," said Alex "as long as your partner didn't help you just zip right up the top in five seconds."

"He was tempted to do it," said Napoleon "But since it would be unfair to me and you guys he decided against it."

"At least he's fair about it," Marko replied with a smirk and the others laughed.

"Donna, how did you and Violet do on the wall?" Alex asked her.

"We both did well," said Donna "It was a bit rough, but we got through to the top, Violet helped me out while we climbed. So what about you Alex, how did you do?"

"I did pretty well," said Alex "Most of the stuff was surprising, but other than that, I did a good job with my team."

"I'm telling you guys those booby traps were like all over the thing," said Travis "I don't think there was a single thing on that wall that wasn't rigged with something."

"You're right about that," said Alex "I didn't think it was going to be that simple, even if it was something away from the wall."

"Well, all of the traps were on the wall," said Donna "We were going up the wall, so I doubt they would be throwing things at us." Alex thought a little bit about what she said, and felt that she was right. If the exercise was focused mostly on the wall, then why did he have this feeling that this small incident wasn't part of the wall? He wasn't sure if it was part of the exercise or if Eric knew about it but didn't tell anybody about it. He thought about it for a moment before he turned back to Donna.

"Hey Donna," said Alex "Do you know where Violet is?"

"Yeah, she's over there at the end of the table." said Donna pointing over to the edge of the long table, where Violet sat eating her food.

"I'll be right back," said Alex. He took his tray, got up, and moved down towards the end of the table so he could speak to Violet. She wasn't that far away from him, but they were a good distance from everybody else. "Hey Vi" Violet turned around to face him.

"Hey Alex," said Violet "So how did you do on the wall?"

"I did pretty well, Donna told me that you two did well," said Alex "But I'll get to that later, something happened during that exercise that I've been feeling concerned about."

"What is it?" asked Violet. Alex took a deep breath before he explained his little incident during the climb. After he finished his explanation, Violet thought for a minute before she looked back at Alex.

"Are you sure it wasn't from the wall?" Violet asked.

"I thought it was, but it didn't feel like it was," said Alex "None of the other groups had the same surprise that I did. Plus, if there was going to be something thrown at us from outside of the wall, then Eric would have told us."

"But that's impossible," said Violet "If you're saying that this seems like an attack, then how could a sniper get onto the island?"

"I don't know," said Alex "It doesn't seem like he would have gotten here at all," however, he thought about it for a moment before a theory came into his mind "Unless…"

"What?" asked Violet.

"Unless, someone allowed him access here." said Alex. Violet looked confused at first by Alex's theory, but thought for a minute, and then turned back to face him.

"So you think that someone on this island allowed whoever it was that almost shot you access to get onto the island?" Violet asked him, summarizing his theory.

"Yeah, pretty much." Said Alex.

"Should we tell Mirage about this?" Violet asked him.

"Not yet, because we don't even know who it is," said Alex "But we're going find that out."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Violet "There's a lot of NSA staff on the island, it could be any of them if what you say is true."

"We can start with some of the staff that we know," said Alex "You and I can go to Doc Sunbright and ask him if he has seen anyone wonder off or doing anything weird."

"Alright, I'm sure Doc does a lot of strange things in his lab, but that's just normal for him." said Violet.

"Yeah, he isn't a scientist for nothing," said Alex as he looked at the other young supers eating around them "Either way, if I'm right, we better find out who the spy is fast because soon, we'll all be in big danger."

So that's it for now. I'm very, very (VERY) sorry for not posting in the last few months. I've been so caught up in school work that it's been hard for me to focus on this story and my school work, I hope this next chapter makes up for my absence. Lately, I've also been going back and making some edits for some scenes or elements that need to be revised and changed a little bit to make it better. It's all to make sure that I make a good story for myself, and all of you readers out there.