G5

The Story Begins — Original Pilot

By Marzena

Chapter 5: School

"So... this is Daphne. And Duffy, these are Kit Walker, LJ and Kshin."

The introduction was a bit awkward since Duffy, Kit, LJ and Kshin had been living in the mansion together for a week or so. But all Duffy had done until now was avoiding everybody and locking herself in her new room, mourning her mother. There had been almost no interaction between the four kids. But Flash was desperate to change that. Duffy needed friends and some kind of social life now more than anything.

Duffy stood next to her father, eyeing Kit, LJ and Kshin, who were standing opposite of them, all looking a bit unsure of what to say. After all, Duffy's mother just passed away. They were probably wondering how to talk to her without upsetting her. Duffy took a deep breath. Maybe she should say something first.

"Hi," she managed to get out, which wasn't much, but at least it was a start.

"Hi," the three of them said back – Kshin, a little Asian boy of ten with a mop of dark hair on his head, and two teenagers of her own age – LJ, tall, dark and athletic, and Kit, broad-shouldered, his serious face sunburned, with dark kinky hair and dark eyes. They all looked nice enough to be friends with. And she really wanted to be friends with them.

"So." LJ was the one speaking up first, grinning at her. "You're Duffy."

Blushing, she shook her mass of thick blonde hair. Of course her dad had to introduce her with her old pet name. So typical. He just didn't really get how embarrassing this was.

"Actually, it's Daphne," she hastily tried to explain. "Duffy's just some silly pet name my parents gave me when I was little."

"I think it's a cute name," Kit now said, winking at her. "And it does really suit you, Duffy."

Duffy groaned and rolled her yes. "The name is going to stick, isn't it?" she cried out.

"Probably," Kit grinned. "But look at us, we've got nicknames as well. I'm really Christopher, and LJ here's really Lothar Junior..."

"Which I really don't want to be called," LJ interjected, and now that the ice between them was broken, he was laughing out loud.

"Well, I don't have a nickname yet," Kshin joined in, clearly enjoying the fact that he was having a conversation with the three older kids. "But as far as Duffy goes, it really is funny. Funny as in cute, I mean. You can call an old lady Daphne, but you're not that old yet, Duffy."

This made everyone laugh and broke the ice completely. Flash was satisfied as he watched Duffy and the three boys chatting away. At least right now, Duffy was actually somewhat happy again. Now the next thing they had to face was getting Duffy to go back to school.

"So, how did your first day go?" LJ asked Kit Walker when they were walking towards the Central City High lunch area together. It was a bright and sunny day but not very warm yet. Most students were still having their lunch inside in the cafeteria but as LJ had guessed, Kit wasn't a big fan of hanging around in crowded, loud rooms when there was the option of having a quiet lunch outside in the fresh air.

"It was okay, I guess." Kit shrugged and put his tray down on one of the white round tables. "It's hard to be the new kid in school. It's even harder to explain to a bunch of city kids why and how I was living in a cave in Africa not so long ago."

"Oh, yeah." Grinning, LJ let himself fall down in one of the uncomfortable white chairs. "I can see how that would be a bit challenging. How did they take it?"

"Are you kidding? I didn't tell them that, of course. I'm not going around announcing that my father is the Ghost Who Walks!" Kit looked rather horrified at the thought. It made LJ laugh. The two of them had become firm friends right from the start and LJ was hoping that Kit, along with his father, would stay in Central City for a good time longer.

"Well, your dad is not the only one who's a legend," LJ commented, shifting around on his seat for a comfortable position. "I wonder how Duffy's day went?"

"Actually, Duffy's day went great. Or at least, better than she expected." With a thud, a grinning Duffy put her tray down next to theirs and threw herself on the chair between them. "And actually, my dad being this great legend really helped for once. Everyone wants to be friends with Flash Gordon's daughter."

"Some friends they are," Kit drily commented. "I'd rather have friends who like me for being me instead of friends who like me for being my father's son."

"I said they want to be friends with me, but I never said they're my friends, did I?" Duffy replied, shoving a french fry into her mouth. She'd never been a big fan of school, but going to Central City High now had turned out to be quite good for her. It had distracted her a bit from everything that was going on in her life right now and apart from locking herself into the bathroom to cry early this morning she'd been rather content and more or less happy and chatty, which definitely was a good thing.

"Well, good for you, then," LJ replied, stealing a fry from her plate. "Besides, you've already got the two of us. We're your friends. Actually, we're your live-in friends, and I bet not many people have that. Although, I have to admit, some of those cheerleader chicks are really hot. Many you could use your new-found popularity to score your new best friends some hot dates, huh?"

"You want me to get you dates?!" Duffy asked, sounding astonished.

"There no harm in asking!" LJ quickly defended himself. "I mean, I..."

"Whatever are they doing?" Kit suddenly asked, pointing in the direction of a large white van that was driving on school grounds towards the open lunch area.

LJ and Duffy didn't know either. Usually there were no strange vehicles on school grounds, especially in the lunch area. And the way they were driving made it very clear that something wasn't right.

"Maybe they're lost or something," LJ said, getting up from his seat.

"Lost or not, they're pretty reckless drivers, if you ask me." Kit got up too. "You stay here, Duffy. We'll point them in the right direction before they crash right into the lunch area or something."

"Guys..." Suddenly feeling alarmed without quite knowing why, Duffy looked up. "Maybe you shouldn't!"

They gave her a look and she knew what they were thinking. That she was being overprotective and overly careful because of what happened to her mother. The thought of Dale brought tears to her eyes once again and she quickly looked away and let the matter slide. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

But maybe she wasn't. Because now the van's doors opened and two men in gray suits came out, wearing strange old-fashioned hats and sunglasses. Kit said something to them but the men didn't even react or reply. They just kept walking towards the two boys. And somehow, those two persons didn't feel like humans at all. From the humans around her, Duffy usually got some kind of sensation. But these two just seemed to be two empty shells.

"Careful!" Duffy shouted, leaping to her feet. "They're not human!"

"What!?" Kit asked, stepping back immediately.

But it was already too late. Those two men seemed to have superhuman strength – one of them grabbed LJ and one of them grabbed Kit and no matter how those two fought, they just couldn't get free again. And since LJ was a martial arts expert and Kit had many years of jungle training it made Duffy realize just how strong those men really were.

"Kit! LJ!"

"Stay away, Duffy! Just stay the hell away and get help!" Kit yelled at her, struggling against his captor's iron grip.

"What do you want from us!?" LJ panted, kicking and screaming, but getting no result at all. There was a lot of noise inside of the school cafeteria – some popular kid celebrating his birthday, having everyone's attention. Which was too bad for the three kids outside.

The man didn't answer but in the struggle with LJ he lost his sunglasses which revealed his eyes – empty and white, just white – it looked creepy as hell!

Then the two creatures dragged Kit and LJ over to the van and just dumped them inside, closing the heavy doors right in the two boys' faces. They immediately started banging against the doors. Forgetting to be careful, Duffy now raced across the lunch area but she was too late – the van was already taking off real fast, and the only thing Duffy could do was to memorize the license plate.

Suddenly one of the teachers came running across the lawn towards Duffy, coming to an abrupt stop next to her, looking around in alarm.

"What happened here, Daphne?!"

Now that was a really good question!

"Excuse me," she muttered, slowly turning around and without bothering to answer the woman's question. "I think I need to call my dad right now!"

And with that, Duffy started running towards the school building.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Escape

Flash Gordon seeks to reach his wife and daughter, who are being held by Ming the Merciless.

2: Prisoners