Chapter 13 : Others

Peter started to board a ship as I jumped into the seat in front of the operating board.
I was deeply confused with all the switches and buttons. 
The power source was shut down, so I couldn't operate it.
If I turn it on, I might turn on the lights and music.
"Hey, Peter, is it pushable?" I asked.
Peter shrugged and pushed it, it moved slightly. 
"Great. So, you are going to push the ship, and when it starts to ascend, jump in and I will power it up. We are going to jump start it,"I explained.
I hopped behind the control board and Peter started pushing. Once it started lifting, Peter gave it a hard shove and vaulted into the ship. I pulled a lever forward and the ship lifted off into the dark ride.
I waved to Peter and said,"Bye!"
"Good Luck!" Peter grinned and waved,"It's a pleasure to meet ya."
I waved back and prayed to God,"Please keep him safe."
                          --------------------------<>--------------------------
Peter took in a deep breathe as the zooming whiteness surrounded him. 
As the whiteness cleared out, Peter saw the gloominess below.
Happiness, just think happy thoughts.
As he slipped on the frozen ocean surface, a odd droning sound rung out.
A detecting system?
Black ninjas started popping up everywhere, surrounding Peter.
20 . . . 30 . . . 40 . . . 50 ninjas? Man, that's overkill!
The ninjas braced to jump on him. 
Peter reached behing his head and pulled the Sword of Mercy from his sheath.
The ninjas jumped int the sky, so did Peter.
He met them halfway down, and slashed his sword in a circular arch. Taking out the ten ninjas, turning into ten piles of dust. Peter grinned.
This sword is long enough to kill ten at time, neat.
More started advancing on the ground, but it didn't faze Peter. He arched the sword around himself and took out ten more. Thirty were left, but they decided to retreat. 
As they were zooming off to Neverland, Peter muttered,"Yea, go tell your King."
Peter trudged on, when he got to the Never Jungle, he heard no sound.
Where is Jiang and Melana?
Peter walked around, trying to find at least one of them. As he passed by his hideaway tree stump, he saw foot prints. 
He crouched down and it looked like there was a struggle. He followed the prints into the thickest part of the jungle. He tripped and stumbled on every single rock and tree root there is. Then he came to a clearing.
He reached the base of Mt.Neverest. The foot prints stopped there.
If I was a evil guy, where will my secret base be?
He felt around the base of the mountain. His hand brushed over a inden in the rock. A fine line imprint.
He brushed the snow away and found a secret door.
He tried to find anything on the side of the door because there was no handle. 
His hand landed on a key . . . no . . . a keypad. He brushed the snow off and it revealed a stainless steel keypad. 
Okay, theres keys . . . . so there must be a password.
He then heard crunching in the snow behind him. 
He ran into the trees nearby the keypad.
Probably I might see the code.
Then Peter froze in fear, a odd coldness that was colder than the air already surrounded him.
He turned and saw the Skeleton walking up in a dark cape and typed on the keypad. 
Peter, using his enhanced eyes (a talent that his low starstuff signature can still uphold), saw the code.
6 - 5 - 1 - 4 . . . 
The Skeleton looked around him, trying to see if anyone was nearby. Reassured that no one was there, he went back to the code.
2 - 3 - 1 - 9
The pad beeped and the door opened. 
As the door shut, Peter jumped into action. As he was about to type in the code, he stopped.
I need a disguised. 
He looked down at his outwear, he could barely see his normal green clad, so that was good. His black coat almost matched the Skeleton's coat, except it had white trims. Everything else seemed fine.
Peter pulled his feathered hat off and shoved it in his inside pockets of his coat. Then he felt around the collar of his coat and pulled at a hood. As he pulled the hood over his head, a Other or ninja walked up.
Peter tensed, hopping out of the trees to not look suspicious.
As the Other walked by, he nodded his head towards Peter. 
Peter stood there, waiting for the Other to enter the door. After the Other entered, he counted ten minutes until he advanced towards the door.
Pulling up the keypad, he typed in; 6-5-1-4-2-3-9.
The door unlocked and it lifted away; revealing a tunnel with weird lights.
"What's this?" Peter mumbled under his breathe.
The tunnel was surrounded in a faint white light. 
He shrugged to himself and walked in. When he got to the second door, it was locked too. This time, the code for the other keypad didn't work. 
Darn
He looked around, trying to see if there was any inscription of the code anywhere.
"Come on,"Peter mumbled, looking desperately. Then he stared at the door, thinking back to what Elysie said,
We will pray that we can take Neverland back.
Do you think He will answer?
He will.
"He will. Ha, let's see if He will,"Peter mumbled.
He then prayed a prayer under a whisper,"Uh God, need a little help here. Maybe you can send down some magical code that can unlock anything? Um . . Amen."
He waited to see if something happened.
Nothing, just the silent gloom in the tunnel.
Okay, did that get higher then this gloomy ceiling?
Then he heard footsteps approaching.
Oh no.
He looked around and saw nowhere to hid when the Other was walking in, he jumped.
The Other passed under him, not knowing that Peter was above him, gripping the ceiling for support. Once the Other typed in the pad; K-I-N-G-5-3, the door opened.
Trying to avoid the keypad again, he swung towards the door and barely passed through the opening when it was closing, silent as a ghost.
As he looked up, he saw an entire control room, swamped with Others. Screens everywhere showing different parts of Neverland.
"Woah."
Peter got up and started acting like a gloomy Other.
A Other dressed in a fancy black army uniform, confronted Peter and asked,"What are you doing here?"
"I was sent to check on the prisoners,"Peter said.
The "chief" Other looked at him suspiciously and then asked him,"Who sent you?"
"The Skeleton,"Peter replied, completely guessing now.
With a little more thought, the Other allowed him to pass through. Then the Other grabbed Peter's arm, a cold feeling swept through his body, making it more difficult not to shiver.
"I will have one of our men escort you,"the "chief" Other said.
Peter gave him a nod.
"Escort this one to the cells,"the "chief" Other said to a passing Other.
The Other nodded and bowed slightly.
Peter followed the assigned Other. The Other took him through series of doors and tunnels that Peter couldn't keep track of.
How am I going to lead a bus-load of captive out of here?
"Heres the plan; I am going to release the prisoners ten at a time. Each time, you shut off the security cameras. Each pass should take up to five minutes at sprinting speed,"the Other whispered.
Confused, Peter asked,"Who are you?"
The Other turned and looked up to him and he saw Jiang.
"Jiang! What are you doing here?"he asked.
She put a finger to her lips and pulled Peter into a empty locker room.
She took the hood of her head. Her hair was in a messy side-ponytail, her eyes had a frantic look in her face.
"While Melana and I were looking for prisoners, the Others attacked us. We split up so I didn't know where Melana was at the time. I yelled to warn her. But she was captured. They chased me for a very long time until I lost them in the jungle. After several hours, I decided to go undercover and find the captives on my own. It was a coincidence that I ran in just as the chief assigned me to you,"Jiang said.
"So his nam really is Chief,"Peter joked.
Jiang gave hims a cold stare.
"Um, just take me to them,"Peter corrected.
Jiang pulled her hood back on and then they walked back into the gloomy hall in silence.
"I don't think we should execute your plan,"Peter whispered,
"Why?"Jiang whispered back.
"There are way to many prisoners. They may not be as fast and if we get in trouble, all of us will be thrown into a cell."
"What's your plan?"
"I am going to choose the most skilled at combat so that if we end up in trouble, they can fend for themselves. Then we can retake Neverland with their help and bring out the prisoners afterward."
"Smart."
When they approached a locked vault, Jiang typed in a code and the vault unlocked.
9-2-7-8, Peter repeated in his mind.
They stepped into the opening, into a dark, damp room.
Jiang lit a lantern hanging on the wall and closed the vault. As they walked down, for what seemed like five thousand steps, they finally reached the bottom. Peter gasped at the lack of air in the cell area. It was super warm and the air was barely breathable. As they walked inside, Jiang's light shone, for what seemed like rows of cells that seem to go on forever. 
Peter looked in every cell as they walked by, in utter horror. Every captive had one cell to themselves. a very narrow and small cell though. They passed through cells of the Mollusk people, they were all sleeping. They all looked starved and their bodies already shown malnutrition.
"No none has died yet, but they are almost close to that. Wait for another week and all these captives will start dying. They get served a small morsel once a day,"Jiang explained in a deep voice, to not ruse excitement if people knew her voice.
Peter was about to say something until Jiang hushed him. 
"If they hear your voice, they might get so excited that it will attract the Other's attention,"Jiang whispered in his ear.
He nodded and said nothing. 
As they approached to the end of the cells, he sees one cell with a body huddled under a J.U.S.S jacket.
Melana, Peter thought.
Without a word, Jiang unlocked the cell, duck taped Melana who was about to yell and dragged her our of her cell. Peter helped Jiang carry the struggling Melana into a empty cell that was far from the other captives. 
"Melana, it's me Jiang. Whatever you do, keep it to a silent level,"Jiang said briefly, pulling her hood down to show that it was actually her and pulled it back up.
Melana relaxed and nodded.
Peter yanked the duct tape off of Melana's mouth and she silently yelled in pain.
"Why did you do that for?" She whispered towards Peter.
"Because I can,"Peter replied. And lifted his head to reveal his face under his hood.
"Peter? You came back,"Melana whispered, grinning ear-to-ear.
"Yep."
"Oh, thank goodness. Things are getting really dark around here and you are our only hope. Where's Elysie?"
"She stayed behind. We needed someone to operate the ride in order to reach the bridge. So Elysie gave up her mission and let me fulfill it. She is going to be on the watch for escaping Others though."
"That's smart,"Jiang said, approving Elysie's actions. 
"Did you get the sword?"Melana asked.
"Yep,"Peter said, pulling it from his sheath.
Melana and Jiang stared at it in amazement as it's soft warm glow shone in the darkness.
"Beautiful,"Melana and Jiang said at the same time.
Grinning, Peter slid it back into his sheath.
"Repeat our plan to Melana,"Jiang said.
"I am here to do Elysie's mission first. I am going to release her father and the Starcatcher group, They can fend for themselves if we get caught up in something."
"That's three people. Including Melana, it's four. It's smart to stop there or add one more person if necessary,"Jiang suggested.
"Tiger Lily. She knows the secret paths and hideouts that the Others aren't familiar with yet."
"We better get to it,"Melana said.
They got up from their cell, walked out, and went back to the part of the gloomy, energized with hope.
                        -------------------------<>----------------------
I was getting very impatient sitting on a nearby bench, watching the entrance.
As a stroller ran over her feet for the hundredth time, Elysie fumed. 
Come on, God. Can I please do something other then being run over by strollers of annoying little children?
Nothing happened.
Several hours passed and it was already midnight. The crowd started to dim as it was only a hour from closing. 
Then I got the most horrible headache. Like someone was banging the back of my head with a hammer. 
Something bad. 
I looked around, everything seemed fine. Until a pan pipe sounded from the Peter Pan's Flight speakers. Something definitely is not right over there. 
I got up and rushed towards the line.