The Academy of S.I.D.E.

No. 15: Remy Is A Maniac

"Does this school do anything for Halloween?" Virgil asked as he and Patton walked into the Field Skills building. "Because I had this amazing Jack Skellington cosplay that me and my mom were working on before coming here, and she just mailed it to me, and I really don't want it to go to waste."

"Oh, we love Halloween," Patton assured him. "We have an informal Halloween dance in the ballroom, and there's a costume contest where everyone gets to participate. Me and Logan came as runner-ups last year when we dressed up as John and Sherlock."

"Nice. Who won?"

"Janus did. He dressed up as one of those Ace Attorney guys."

"Of course he did," Virgil muttered.

The two of them pushed open the double doors of the Ability Usage room, only to be met with complete darkness. The doors slammed shut behind them the instant they stepped into the room.

"What the hell is happening?" Virgil whispered.

"Oh my god, I forgot about this!" Patton whisper-screamed. "I love these so much!"

"What is---"

A spotlight hit Remy, who was standing in a balcony high up near the ceiling. "Our last students have finally arrived!" he announced. "And now, ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, monsieurs, mademoiselles, and everything in between... welcome... to..."

The lights turned back on, revealing that the stadium had been replaced by a gigantic maze. Their Ability Usage class was standing in front of it, with expressions ranging from excited to deeply afraid on their faces.

"FANTASY FRIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Remy crowed into a microphone. A cheer track burst out from a set of speakers.

He stepped off of the balcony... and continued walking on thin air. "The rules of this month's challenge are simple. Half of the class are operatives on the good side, and your mission is to steal... this." He held up a tiny flash drive shaped like Bill Cipher. "I didn't have another one. Also, BTW, thanks for the antigravity boots, Jacobi."

"You're regrettably welcome," Logan answered.

"Anyways!" Remy did a twirl. "This flash drive contains the names of the members of a shadowy organization dedicated to taking over the world. Half of the class will be agents from that, and your mission is to do whatever you can to stop the rest of the class from stealing this. You will be in your teams, and there will be a prize for the team who successfully steals this and brings it back to me---or succeeds in protecting it by the end of the day."

"What's the prize?" Janus called.

"You will get to look at the actual contents of this, which is a video of me dancing to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now in the Louvre while the security guards are trying and failing to catch me. And you'll also get to post it onto the Internet if you so desire."

Everyone looked ten times more interested in participating.

Remy hit a switch on the boots and descended into the center of the maze. After a few minutes of muttered French swearing, he shot back up into the air and went back into the balcony.

"The flash drive has been set," he declared. "Sonar, Brainwave, Electrica, Ultimate Panic, and Clockstopper, your teams are the good guys. Wildfire, Hercules, Lepidoptera, Freezer, and Radio, your teams are the bad guys. You can use levitation, but---" He held up a tiny remote and clicked it--- "I just activated an invisible barrier around the center of the maze that prevents you from getting in that way, so get creative. Ready..."