Two Strands of Fortune

Season 3 Episode 2 - Cattivo Returns

[IVAN'S POV]

A first day of school that was finally cracking up to be quite peaceful and calm. Maybe I shouldn't think about it too much. I could risk jinxing it. Since it was the first day of term, today and tomorrow would be Life Orientation class. "Okay," Mr Colby began explaining, "this year, LO will be done a little differently." The class was dead silent with sheer confusion. "You will have your normal theory portion, but you will have a practical portion in which you will be doing volunteer work."

Finally, something right up my alley.

"Between now and October next year, you will be expected to do 20 hours of community service. Then, at the end of the timeline, you'll be asked to write a reflective essay about your experiences doing the work, as well as what you took away from it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alec subtly heaving a heavy sigh. I don't have much of a problem with community service, but 20 hours between now and the end of Grade 12? How?

"Any questions?" Mr Colby looked around the room with eager eyes.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking. This wasn't normal. Even for us. We don't usually have earthquakes this far into a tectonic plate. That was to tell me that something about it was off.

The rest of the class broke out into a panic, even though Mr Colby tried and failed to calm them down. Out of nowhere, the rumbling stopped. "Guys, look." Eric signaled for us to look out the windows at how the sky was darkening and quickly at that.

"Are you doing this?" Alya looked over at him.

"No." He snapped. "Do you really think I have the power to cause a random solar eclipse?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Oliver pushed his face closer to get a better look. "I can feel it. The sun will be completely covered soon."

Martha put 2 fingers up to her temple. "Whoever's doing this is sending the tides into overdrive around the world. They have to be really powerful to be able to pull off this big of a stunt."

We all knew who could be doing this - Cattivo. Without a second thought, we ran out onto the main quad for the sake of closer investigation. By the time of our arrival, the sun was completely covered. Then, dark, looming stormclouds started forming above us.

"Don't look at me. This isn't me or Martha." Alya threw her hands up.

"So, what's our plan for this?" Alec looked at Dylan.

"Oh, I have a plan. And it's called Element Summon!" In an instant, we were transformed and ready for action. Out of nowhere, a bunch of streaks of lightning came down. When the lightning receded, Cattivo stood before us.

"Hello, there. I hope you didn't miss me too much."

[MARGOT'S POV]

Cattivo had finally made his grand entrance. And no, we didn't miss him. We were doing just fine.

"Sorry about the theatrics, though." He dusted himself off. "I just couldn't resist a dramatic entrance."

"Cut the crap already!" Ollie snapped. "What do you want?"

"Oh, little old me? I just came to warn you. Can't you feel it in the air? The end is near."

"You filthy liar." Alya tried to lunge towards him, but Cattivo waved his hand. Out of nowhere, Alya was engulfed in a smoky aura. I could see that she was trying to move but struggled to do so. "Let me go, you coward!"

"Sorry, big sis." He snapped his fingers and made the smoke disappear, sending her tumbling to the ground. "Now, if you would be so kind as to observe behind me." Cattivo gestured behind him to a visage made of the same smoke from before. In the smoke, a couple of silhouettes of different shapes and sizes . "As Earth's first line of defense, you will be tested against my very own Horsemen and Monsters. If you don't comply, I'll blow up the Earth. And if you fail, I'll still blow it up." In the visage, a large fabergé egg appeared. "Meet Doomsday. . You'll be seeing a lot of it. Now, Doomsday only explodes on my command. One wave of my hand and the whole planet is done for."

"So, what is this, Survivor?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, what kind of sick game is this?" Ivan helped Alya up to her feet.

"All of this is part of a greater mission." Cattivo waved his hand once again and made the smoke disappear. "I've been adorned with a greater purpose to both test and punish those who foolishly dabble in divine territory."

"What a hypocrite." I scoffed. "How could you envy us when no normal human should have access to the amount of power that you also have?"

"If I'm being honest, this is the easiest way to do this." Cattivo shrugged. "My Superiors and I have negotiated for this test rather than blowing up the planet immediately."

Pure looks of shock washed over our faces.

"Why not just get it over with already?" Martha tilted her head to the side.

"Because I want a show. Letting you all off easy would just be far too anticlimactic for you guys." He chuckled. "But, for now. I'll just leave you with a little present to say hello." Cattivo hurled his arms out around him and sent a large explosion of smoke throughout the area. When the smoke receded, he was gone, but in his place, troops of grey-skinned soldiers surrounded us. "Meet my Infected." His voice echoed around us.

The troops jumped from standing on attention to pointing their lances towards us in an offensive position.

"Oh....shit." Martha mumbled.

"Guys, get ready." Alec warned.

When they charged towards us, we ran into a circle and interlinked arms facing them. When our circle was formed, a bright, multicolored barrier wrapped itself around us and exploded, disintegrating the surrounding troops. It seems like putting our powers together made us stronger.

"Is everyone okay?" Miss Jacobs ran over and checked in with us.

"I think so." Dylan dusted themself off.

"That was Cattivo, right?" Ms Jacobs asked.

"As much as I hate to admit it, it was. But he's different now. He looks about our age." Alya scratched the back of her neck.

"Maybe we should take this back to Agnes? I'll pull some strings to get you all excused for the day while you guys go." Miss Jacobs suggested.