April 24th, 2050, New York City: Victor Flint walked into his lair, the air blowing through his silver hair and against his black robe, to find his twin brother, Baron, dead on the floor. 

“NOOOO!!”, he screamed.

In horror, he checked his security tape finding that Howard Baker had murdered his dear brother. After the deed was done, Howard looked into the camera, and signed a heart shape using his hands. Victor then swore to kill the Baker family as revenge.

May 20th, 2050, New York City: The Baker children; Jack age 17, Emily age 16, Henry age 14, and Andrew age 12, were finishing up the school day, in their last classes. Jack was half-asleep in his Physics class, idly running his hand through his brown hair while staring down at his black watch. However Emily was jotting down three pages of notes, avidly listening to their teacher. Henry was busy studying math, and Andrew was struggling with English. It was a hot day that day, and they were all wearing shorts and t-shirts. Soon they were on the bus, sitting together as usual.

“So, how was math Henry,” Jack asked.

“It was fine I guess,” Henry responded.

“Just fine?”

“Ya.”

“And what did you think of Physics,” Jack asked Emily, “It was so boring.”

“I thought it was interesting,” Emily responded quietly.

“Really? I guess you would find that kind of stuff interesting.” Jack said, looking at Emily’s white “Physics Rocks” t-shirt.

“I’m writing an old-fashioned story, about what it was like to live during the 2020’s,” Andrew pitched in. Andrew had made sure not to sit in a window seat, because he was wearing all-black clothing, and the sun would bake his pale skin especially well today.

“That’s very nice Andrew,” Jack responded, not really paying attention. He was watching an online wrestling show on his tablet.

“I’m having trouble thinking up ideas for it though, there was that virus thing that happened for awhile, but that won’t be an interesting story. Although I wonder what it was like to have a president back then. That would have been pretty weird,” Andrew said.

Since the 2020’s, the world had changed. Of course new technologies came along, but not the stunning, sci-fi, futuristic technology that the media of the time had promised. Computers could only get so small, and space technology was slowly developed. That doesn’t mean that advancements weren’t made though. While astronauts had stepped on Mars, new VR and AR technology allowed people to experience the planet in a photorealistic landscape, right at their homes. Not to mention the budding AI technology that was becoming a technological staple.

But while science grew, and technology blossomed, it was only one side of the coin. Climate change had taken a toll on the planet. Some cities had fallen victim to the grim flooding that overtook the world, and some species went extinct. However, besides climate change, political views shifted too, and eventually, many of the world’s superpowers collapsed.

“Just write about some rudimentary technology, or just switch it up and make a 2020’s themed dystopian or something. That can’t be too hard, right?” Jack idly responded.

“I’m not writing a dystopian Jack,” Andrew said matter-of-factly.

“Why not, you just have to take your normal life, degrade the technology, and add in robots that have taken over the world”, then Jack groaned.

“Did you lose another bet Jack,” Henry queried, adjusting his camo hat, “I thought Mom told you to stop.”

“A:,” Jack began, “Mom doesn’t know I bet anymore, and that’s the way it will stay,” he gave Henry a meaningful look, “And B: I did a lot of research this time, and I was sure this guy would win,” he said, pointing at the man lying down breathlessly on the floor of the wrestling pit.

“If you spent as much time researching your bets as you did researching physics, maybe you wouldn’t have a D”, Henry pointed out. Jack ignored him, silently cursing toward himself.

The rest of the bus ride home was spent in silence. The children were all studying, except Jack, who was busy studying the next wrestlers to make another bet. When they arrived at the bus stop, the driver stopped them.

“I received a message from your father. He told me to drop you off somewhere special”, the bus driver explained.

“And you’re actually going to?” Jack said, which made the rest of the Baker’s cringe a little. The bus driver, Mr. Stake, was a grumpy old man, which was probably from the years he spent listening to children yelling. He was intimidating, and the children didn’t want him to be angry at them.

“Your father also mentioned a visit from Mr. Trint,” Mr. Stake added menacingly. The children nodded their heads and went back to their seats.

“Why would Dad spend 100 bucks to bribe the driver into driving us somewhere ‘special’” Henry asked.

“Who knows, Dad is always up to something,” Jack responded.

“Maybe his antics have finally caught up with him,” Emily added, almost whispering the words.

“After being a rebel for 20 years, I doubt he’d be caught so easily now.” Henry pointed out.

As it would happen, this was not the case. After nearly a month of searching, Victor had finally found the location of the Baker children’s cotel. A cotel was a place where children stayed, usually nearby schools, away from their parents. In the age of increasingly uncreative names, the common people just decided to call it a hotel, but they slapped a “c” in front of it for “children”. Cotel. Anyhow, Victor had sent his troops to their “cotel”, to kidnap them. He then planned to interrogate them and find out where their father, Howard, was. And maybe arrange for their premature deaths.

After all the other children had been dropped off, Mr. Stake drove them to Manhattan. In recent years, Queens had become more of a residential space than a city. So Manhattan, which was covered in skyscrapers and big businesses, was much different than their home. Here, Mr. Stake drove up to none other than the Empire State Building, one of the few American monuments left standing. The children thanked him, and walked up to the magnificent building.

And by “walked up to the magnificent building”, they took 5 steps away from the bus. There was only a sidewalk separating the building and the street. Then they saw a man approaching them. The children were wary at first, but the man came up to them and said with a gritty voice: “Hello, my name is Jonathan. Your father sent me to come and get you. Now follow me,” Jonathan began to walk into the restaurant at the base of the building. The children were suspicious, but not very suspicious, since it made sense that this scarred man would be a rebel. He looked as though he had fought actual battles, and his concise language seemed very stereotypically like an army commander’s. So the children followed him.

They went into the restaurant, then walked through into the cooking room. None of the chefs seemed surprised by them, so either they were just used to and allowed visits like this, or they were rebels too. The second option seemed more likely, since Jonathan opened a secret door that led to an underground room, without any of the chefs even looking up from their work. Jonathan led them inside.

“First things first, are you all aware of how this country was formed?” Jonathan asked everyone.

“Ya, in 2033, a man named Blake Allwood created a rebellion against the U.S. Government, and overthrew them, creating the nation of Potentia.” Henry blurted out.

“That’s a very simple way of putting it, but yes. Then what happened?”

“Allwood died, and Alexander Trint took his place as the ruler of Potentia,” Emily responded.

“Well that’s what the public thinks,” Jack began, “but according to Dad, Trint actually killed Allwood to take his place, and he created a much crueler dictatorship than Allwood would have. Allwood would have made decisions that the democracy wouldn’t have been able to make, because by that point, the democracy was too politically split to actually do anything. But Trint has obviously done no such thing. Instead he feasts in his mansion while he forces science to advance and he destroys any monument that represents freedom and liberty.”

“He also forces people to work once they’re 18” Emily added, “And if you're not employed, then the government forces you into a career that needs workers, whether you like it or not. And he taxes way too high.”

“Yes, this is all true,” Jonathan explained, “but what you don’t know is that your father actually attempted to kill one of Trint’s second-in-commands, Victor Flint. But he mistook Victor’s twin, Baron, for him, and he killed Baron instead. Now Victor is set on killing your family.”

This last piece of information hit the children hard, with multiple “what”s going around the room.

“And the reason you guys are here right now is because Victor found you guys,” Everyones’ expressions changed to an even more shocked look, “So your father sent me to brief you on the matter and bring you to your mother, Susan’s, house.”

“And why are we in this weird room?” Andrew asked.

“Because it’s likely that you’ll need to escape through the sewers out of town, where there is a boat that we’ll use to escape NYC. If we drive normally, it’s likely that Victor will find us. And kill us.”

“Then why the heck are we talking here instead of walking through the sewers?!” Jack exclaimed.

“Have you ever tried talking in a sewer?” Jonathan asked.

“No.”

“Well that’s because it stinks, literally. You can taste the stench on your tongue, so I’m explaining things here before we go walking through the waste of 1 million people. You're welcome.” With that Jonathan abruptly walked to the other end of the room. There, he opened another, slightly less secretive door.

The stench from the sewers came billowing into the room. Everyone was extremely uncomfortable now. Not only did they have to trek through the sewers, but they were also being hunted by the dictator’s second-in-command, because their father decided to kill his twin. It was a lot to take in.

“We’d better get going,” Jack said begrudgingly. So they walked into the sewers. The stench was even worse, and the toxic river flowing 2 feet away from them was filthy. Not to mention that NYC was huge, so they’d be walking for a while before they came to a point where the sewers met the sea.

They had been walking for 10 minutes, leaving everything they knew behind. And then they saw a light coming from one of the tunnels. But not the yellow-white light from the sun that might come out of a water grate. This light was a deep orange, which indicated artificial light.

“What’s down there?” Andrew asked, instantly regretting it as he tasted the sewer.

“I honestly don’t know, there shouldn't be anything down there,” Jonathan stated. They decided to investigate. They approached the light and turned a corner. There was a door seeping light. Jonathan opened the door, and to their astonishment, there was a huge room, big enough to say it was a lair without overstating things. But this lair was weird. A: Why would there be a room this big next to the sewers, and B: why were there racks of guns and weapons on the wall?

“We probably should leave,” Emily said.

“Are you sure, because that looks pretty interesting” Jack said, pointing out a briefcase on a table that read: “Property of Victor Flint”.

“This is Victor’s base of operations!” Jonathan blurted out.

The children all stood frozen as statues, too terrified to move. This was the Victor Flint that had been ruling the city of New York for years, and who apparently, wanted them all dead.

“I’m gonna puke,” Henry said.

Jack and Jonathan knew that as the older figures in the group, it was their job to calm everyone from the obvious fear that gripped everyone so firmly.

“I know you’re all scared,” Jack said gently, “But the only way we’re going to get out of this nasty sewer is to go inside.”

“Wwe ccould ggo bback,” Andrew shivered.

“No” Jonathan said, “I want to know more about this evil worm and honestly, this sewer smells worse than a rotten carcass.”

Jonathan had made a good point, and so the children bustled into the lair, never in their dreams expecting what took place next.

Jonathan and the children stayed low to floor keeping their voices low, praying that they wouldn’t be heard by any Potentia soldiers. As they crawled around the giant office, Emily noticed a box of cassette tapes labeled “Never to be seen again”.

“Hey guys, look at this!” she whispered.

As Jonathan and the rest of the kids made their way to Emily, she pointed to the box, and totally ignoring the label, Jack grabbed the cassette and looked frantically for a VCR. 

“Come on Jack” Henry said angrily, “We want to get out of here, not stuck here watching some dumb video”

“Henry,” Jack grumbled, “Victor has been king of New York for what seems like forever, we have a chance to see his secrets on video, and you don’t want to watch it?”.

Henry knew that his persistent brother was going to win this fight, so he sulked in a corner while his brother and the rest of the children searched and searched. 

“Finally!” Andrew exclaimed. “I got it”

Jack’s excitement was mounting as his shaky hands inserted the cassette into the VCR. However, what the children didn’t know was that their lives would change forever after this small, seemingly insignificant video.

The video cemented what everyone was trying to ignore and hide, that their father was a murderer. The clip showed everything, from screams and cries, to Victor’s sobbing in the background.

“NOOOOO!”, they all screamed in unison.

The children were devastated at the evidence that their father, who they loved, was also a bloodthirsty monster. 

Their cries and screams of disbelief, unfortunately, were heard by five Potentia soldiers decked out in black body armor, who came sprinting towards them with their handguns drawn. 

“Run!” Jonathan yelled.

And so they ran with all the strength they had left. All four children jumped out of the lair and into the sewer. When they were about 50 yards away, they heard Victor’s voice from the lair,

“Don’t let them escape!” he yelled.

“Faster!” Henry shouted only to be grabbed by his leather jacket and yanked into the murky water.

“STOP RIGHT NOW!!!” a soldier yelled, “OR HE DIES!”

The children whipped their heads back to see their brother being held underwater by a burly Potentia soldier. 

“NOO!” Emily screamed, “We give up, take us but don’t let him die!”

The soldier ripped Henry from the water and threw him on the walkway. Henry coughed and sputtered for a long time before he was able to breathe again. Jonathan and the children slowly approached the Potentia Soldiers, ready to give themselves up. Victor appeared from the doorway and strode towards the children, his red robe swaying side-to-side.

“Finally,” Victor growled menacingly.

“THOSE ARE MY CHILDREN!!!” said a voice from the end of the tunnel, “LET THEM GO RIGHT NOW!”.

Jack, Emily, Henry, and Andrew all turned around to see their father, while Jonathan kept his eyes firmly on Victor and his troops. About 30 feet away, in the opposite direction of the children, Howard was holding an assault rifle in his hands, peeking around a corner in the sewer.

“Howard!” Victor yelled, his voice echoing off the walls of the sewer, “How lovely to finally meet you in person. It would appear the whole family’s here. Well, except for the Mrs., but I’m sure I’ll find her soon enough,”  and with that, Victor nodded toward his soldiers. They all raised their guns toward Howard, except for one who kept his pointed at Jonathan.

Without missing a beat, Howard threw a smoke bomb towards the Potentia group. This allowed the children to get away by running around a bend in the sewer, back the way they came, while Jonathan followed them. Bullets sprayed the wall where they had just been, while the echo of the gunshots nearly deafened them. Howard also let loose a shower of bullets, and soon the screams of the soldiers filled the smelly room too. Andrew was screaming, and the rest of them were too terrified to do anything but run. Emily turned around to see a Potentia soldier, who was bleeding in the leg, aim his gun down the walkway. He let loose three bullets, one of them hitting the wall opposite to the children, another hitting the ground behind Henry’s feet, and the last one whizzing by Andrew’s head, down the long sewer hallway. And while a few more shots came their way, Jonathan turned around and sent a barrage of his own bullets heading down the hall. The children didn’t look, but they heard a thud echoing off the walls. They kept running, down the hallway looking back to see Victor running like mad after them while their father fought the soldiers not too far behind. 

“Stop right now or I’ll put a bullet through your head!” Victor screamed.

Even though the children weren’t too far ahead, they all seemed to agree that running was still the best option, even if it would mean their death. And so they did. Their legs felt like lead by the time they came to another light in the tunnel and they all took a silent breath of relief. Realizing it was the exit they had been praying for, they burst through the grate and collapsed on the grass. However relieved they were that the running was done, the question came up into all of their minds, “Where was Victor?”.

“Hey guys”, Andrew said, speaking their thoughts out loud, “Where’s Victor?”

“I could have sworn he was right behind us,” Henry remarked.

“Maybe he took a secret tunnel or something,” Jack said nervously.

“That’s actually exactly what I did” a voice said coming out from behind a tree, “You guys are so smart, it’s too bad you won’t live to see another day,” Victor snarled, tossing an explosive up and down in the air. “In my hand I have an explosive that can blow you all into pieces, and what’s better is that you can’t do anything about it!” Victor cackled.

At this point all four Baker children felt like their insides were blowing up with sheer horror that their lives would be over and nothing could be done to save them. Jonathan was still clutching his gun, but the deep frown on his face said that he knew he was beat.

“Wait,” said a familiar voice from the opening to the tunnel, “take me instead,” Howard begged. “I’m the reason for your anger, Victor, not my children, so take me and let my children live.” Howard cried.

“This is perfect,” Victor laughed, “now you’ll all be blown to pieces and I’ll finally finish what I star-”.

At that moment, overcome with rage Jack lunged at Victor, knocking him to the ground with one hit. He then pinned Victor to the ground and was ready to suffocate him when his father screamed, “STOP!” Although Jack’s confusion was at an all time high, he stopped and listened. What Jack didn’t know was that Victor had his hand on the pin ready to set the bomb and kill them all.

“Jack stop!” Howard yelled. “Just take me Victor, leave my children alone and we might all live past this day. You can torture me day and night in your lair, but LEAVE THEM ALONE!!” Howard shouted.

Victor, with so many thoughts and feelings racing through his head, including those of Howard’s murder of his brother, said, “Ok”, he paused, “You caused so much pain and rage to me that all I want to do is see you suffer for your actions.”

“Dad you can’t do this!” Andrew cried. He had seen what his father had done, but he didn’t want him to get hurt. Henry and Emily bit their lips, obviously devastated and in shock, but still knowing that in this case, their father had some of it coming. Jonathan was much less sympathetic, but you could see some hurt in his eyes.

“Shut your quivering mouth you little rascal!” Victor yelled, making Andrew cower behind Jonathan, “Now get out of here, before I have a change of heart,” With this, Victor threw Jack off him and, keeping his explosive visible, took Jonathan’s pistol. He turned around and demanded Howard, “Drop your gun!”

Jack was about to grab the explosive that Victor was waving around, but Jonathan held out an arm to stop him. “He has a gun, plus that explosive might go off if you handle it roughly,” Jack squinted at Jonathan, but stepped back.

Howard dropped his gun. Victor then proceeded to pick it up and use the butt of the weapon to knock him out. It didn’t exactly work the first time though, and Howard managed to tell his children, “I’m sorry,” before Victor hit him again and knocked him out for good.

Andrew was sobbing behind Jonathan. Jonathan turned around and led him and the children towards the shore, where a speedboat awaited them. Victor dragged Howard’s unconscious body towards the secret entrance to the sewers, which turned out to be a maintenance door built into the rock wall the sewer protruded from. Jack let a tear escape his eye, while Jonathan revved up the engine.

Then Emily noticed a wound in Jonathan’s upper right leg. “Jonathan you got shot!” Emily yelled with concern.

“Nothing I haven’t felt before,” Jonathan groused. Then they were off, the blue water splashing them, cooling them down after all their running. No one cared to talk about the stink of the sewer that clung to their sweaty bodies.

“I don’t want to be the one to tell mom about all this,” Henry spoke up.

“None of you will have to. I’ll send another rebel to inform her of your father’s fate,” Jonathan yelled above the water spray, “In fact, none of you will be seeing your mother for a while.”

“What, why?” Andrew asked.

“Victor let us go, but that doesn’t mean he won’t follow us, or try to harm us in the future. We can’t risk exposing Susan’s location to him,” The children looked even more downcast, “For now, you can stay at my place. It’s very secure, and Victor will have a hard time finding us there.” The children knew that made sense, so they decided to rest, unknowing what the future held for them.

May 20th, 2050, New York City: Howard was regaining consciousness in Victor’s lair. Victor was looking through an old box of cassette tapes, and when he found what he was looking for, he inserted the tape into an old VCR.

“Come on man, a VCR, that’s so out of date, especially for you,” Howard mumbled. He groaned as he felt a swell on the back of his head where Victor had hit him, twice.

“SHUT IT!” Victor screamed. He inserted the tape and grabbed a knife, then proceeded to stab Howard’s hand. Howard screamed, and with his other hand, reached around his belt for something special.

“Looking for some explosives?” Victor scowled, “I’m not an idiot, I removed your grenades when I dragged you in here. It would have been much easier if you hadn’t killed my soldiers.”

“That was actually a surprisingly fun experience,” Howard mustered to say through the pain in his hand.

“Was killing my brother ‘a fun experience’!?” Victor raged.

“Was trying to kill innocent children ‘a fun experience’?” Howard retorted. He felt a slight lump in his belt, something Victor had missed.

“Like you would do any less if you could find a reason to.” Victor clicked play on the VCR, letting the tape roll, to fuel his anger and make him enjoy what he was about to do even more.

“I wouldn’t kill an innocent child. If they were guilty of treason against justice like you are then I would gladly kill them.”

“You’re sick,” Victor snarled, “My brother was innocent, and so am I. But he had no part in Trint’s rise to power, which is apparently a reason to die.”

“I didn’t try to kill him, I thought he was you,” Howard was waiting for Victor to get a bit closer.

“Don’t try that lie on me, I saw how you signed a heart shape with your hands. Who was that meant for. Me. You kill because you enjoy it, Baron was just a way for you to indulge yourself.”

“You helped kill Allwood.” Howard spat.

“So? Allwood was too honest, he would’ve made for a terrible leader.”

“No he wouldn’t have” Howard watched the screen to see himself perform the deed. He relaxed a little, reminded of the moment.

“This is the exact place where you killed my brother,” Victor growled, ignoring Howard’s comment, “And now, I’ll repeat what you did to him, but it will be much slower this time.” Victor started to approach Howard.

When he was about five feet away, Howard said “But I want it to go much quicker.” Then he clicked the button on the device in his belt. Howard disappeared in a ball of flame, which quickly enveloped Victor and his lair.

Howard was gone.

Victor’s lair was on fire everywhere. The box of tapes and the VCR had been destroyed. The doorway to the sewer had been blown out, letting the sewer’s stench crawl in. And on the scorched floor, laid Victor. Half of his face had the flesh burnt away, his clothes weren’t much better. His red robe was stained black with ash, and the little hairs on the robe were charred.

But he wasn’t dead. His chest rose ever so slightly, then he took a huge, heavy breath, and screamed, “THEY’LL ALL BURN!” And then he collapsed.