{"id":342,"date":"2012-11-09T20:25:55","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T20:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/?p=342"},"modified":"2012-11-09T20:25:55","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T20:25:55","slug":"the-flaring-by-nick-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/the-flaring-by-nick-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flaring by Nick Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>

Saff Keiding slunk through the bushes. Any moment now, he\u2019d be exposed. The searchlights on the turrets of the Flaring were blinding white, but with a green camouflage jacket and black pants, he\u2019d be hard to see.
\nA voice came out of his All-Ear. \u201cEagle, we have code red on Snake.\u201d Eagle was Saff. A fitting title for their leader. One of his collaborators was trying to tell him that Thomas Webner had been discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew plan.\u201d Saff turned around and with his back to the light could see his colleagues creeping through the dense forest. \u201cEverybody in?\u201d he asked into his All-Ear. This was followed by a chorus of \u201cyes\u201ds and \u201cyup\u201ds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe cover west and send Crocodile out. Doc search. Then I come in flanked by Snare, Donkey, Arrow, and Vine.\u201d
\n\u201cOkay,\u201d said Crocodile.
\n\u201cWhat about me?\u201d Antelope, their best scout, called out.
\nSaff frowned. \u201cYou try to get inside the Flaring. It should be locked, but I trust you have your lock gun?\u201d
\n\u201cGot it.\u201d
\n\u201cGood. Now start . . . Formation Capybara.\u201d
\n\u201cFormation Capybara?\u201d Vine asked. She had no liking for rodents.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know! It was the first thing on my mind!\u201d
\n\u201cOkay,\u201d Arrow butted in. \u201cWill do.\u201d They started Formation Capybara.
\nSaff took out the guards easily enough. All he had to do was hold his dragon-shaped necklace pendant and think what he wanted to do. Bursts of purple shot out of the pendant, and the guards passed out. Saff had no idea how he got this power or even what it was, but if he could use it reliably, he didn\u2019t care about either of those things. It worked. That\u2019s what mattered.<\/p>\n

\u262c<\/p>\n

\n

Crocodile had by now gotten himself into the Flaring and was recording documents on his iPhone 7G. He didn\u2019t know which documents Saff wanted, but didn\u2019t care. He wanted to get as much information as needed and then get out.
\nSapphire Jay Keiding, he thought. If the Flaring doesn\u2019t kill you, I will. It was brought to mind jokingly, but there was a grain of truth in it. Now, with all the documents loaded, he tucked his head down and ran.<\/p>\n

\u262c<\/p>\n

Antelope tried to disable the searchlights, but of course, she got caught. Just after making it up the turret, she discovered herself to be in a room with two other people. She was starting to take down the circuit board when she had to sneeze.
\nNot now, she thought, but she felt it coming on strong. NOT NOW! Then she sneezed.
\n\u201cWhat have we here?\u201d A short man poked his head under the desk where Antelope was hiding.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s Kelly Demanson! You know, the thief from Starbucks?\u201d This was a woman.
\nDang.
\nKelly was Antelope\u2019s real name. After joining Saff, she had adopted Antelope due to her slight stature and extreme agility.
\n\u201cSo it is,\u201d the man muttered. \u201cSo it is.\u201d
\n\u201cDo you remember me, Kelly?\u201d the woman asked.
\n\u201cAll too well. You\u2019re Sarah Gill from the Spire.\u201d
\n\u201cI am. Allow me to introduce my accomplice, Tim Carey.\u201d
\nAntelope nodded briskly. Sarah started to walk her away. \u201cI guess it\u2019s over then,\u201d she whispered into her hand.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s in your hand?\u201d Sarah asked. \u201cTim, confiscate it!\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an All-Ear!\u201d he exclaimed.
\n\u201cThat means there are others,\u201d Sarah said. \u201cThere are others.<\/p>\n

\u262c<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s all over now,\u201d came Antelope\u2019s disembodied voice from Saff\u2019s All-Ear.
\n\u201cCode Red Antelope!\u201d he cried. His All-Ear picked it up and broadcasted it to Snare, Vine, Donkey, and Arrow. A few minutes later, Snare trotted up beside him. Snare\u2013\u2013a tall, skinny boy with an uncanny ability to disappear into the woods, only to reappear with his Taser in your back\u2013\u2013had been on many missions before joining Saff, so Saff trusted him with second-in-command. If something happened to Saff, Snare would become Kestrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo it,\u201d said Saff. Snare nodded and disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u262c<\/p>\n

A scream pierced the night. An electric shock followed, so powerful that Saff jumped\u2013\u2013quite literally\u2013\u2013out of his boots. hurriedly replacing them on his feet, a message came through his All-Ear.
\n\u201cRescued Antelope. Send Vine in to help us out.\u201d It was Snare.
\n\u201cVine?\u201d he asked into his All-Ear. When no reply came, he asked again, panicked this time. \u201cVINE?\u201d Again. \u201cVINE!\u201d Then he slouched forward. Not with despair. He had been hit in the back of the head. Before he blacked out, he thought If only Cheetah were here.<\/p>\n

Cheetah had been Saff\u2019s former second-in-command. She had gone missing in action and he\u2019d never found her.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d know what to do.<\/p>\n

\u262c<\/p>\n

Back at the Flaring, Snare hid with Antelope in an old boiler room.
\n\u201cI hope he comes through,\u201d Snare murmured.
\n\u201cHe\u2019ll come through, Snare,\u201d said Antelope. \u201cHe always does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saff Keiding slunk through the bushes. Any moment now, he\u2019d be exposed. The searchlights on the turrets of the Flaring were blinding white, but with a green camouflage jacket and black pants, he\u2019d be hard to see. A voice came out of his All-Ear. \u201cEagle, we have code red on Snake.\u201d Eagle was Saff. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}