➔ WORD OF THE CHAPTER: hologram

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"I hit the- I move the cup.. hit the b-balls and then it opened up and I can't..." charlie tried to explain.

"It's okay, I understand... Your dad's a freak," Berger looks up from charlie.

Something pops out from the wall. We all went to look at it closer. It was a keypad.

"Woah.." Lizzie says. She was the first one there. "Wait. Careful, careful," charlie says behind all of us.

"How do we open it," berger asks. "We need a code," lizzie says.

"This is just like an escape room. Scan the room for clues," lizzie tells us, looking around.

We all scattered around the small area for clues. "It's numerical... so that rules out childhood pets, birthplace... when's your parent's anniversary," lizzie looks back to charlie, who is digging around inside of drawers. "They're divorced."

"How bout your dad's birthday," she asks, looking back at the keypad.

"November 18th," he answers.

She types it in. A buzzer can be heard. I hear her hum, disappointed.

She looks beside her. "Better yet... the birthday of a loved one," she reached out to the same photo maya was looking at earlier.

"Hey, Happy almost birthday," she tells charlie.

We all went back to lizzie.

"zero. four. zero. seven. zero. eight," she presses each of the numbers.

Then, things were turning and unlocking. Then the metal door opened, showing an elevator.

"Hello," berger says.

"Woah," lizzie says.

"Looks like an elevator," charlie walks up to it.

"What? to go upstairs," maya chuckles.

"That's kinda lazy, isn't it," berger says.

We look around the elevator. It was huge and shiny. A pattern with lights behind the walls, lighting up the whole elevator.

"Why is there only one button," Charlie asks.

Maya held mine and lizzie's hand smirking. She moves her head, signaling for me to press it.

I lean forward to press the red, big button.

"Please, dont touch-" berger watches me lean to it.

click

The elevator immediately drops. Super fast. We all float to the top, gravity did not exist at the moment. Not literally. It was just super fast, it lifted us to the top.

"AAAAHHHHH"

"AAAHH"

"ITS A-"

"AIDEEE"

"AAAAHHH"

"MY GUTS ARE BLOATING"

thud!

We all laid flat on the ground, groaning. My upper body landed near charlie and my lower was near lizzie.

The elevator door opens in a cool way. Like a swirl.

"How far down did we go," I groan. "Far..." charlie whispers, as he got up. He helps me up as well, taking my hands.

We all got up, uneasy as we walked out of the elevator.

"Yeah... i'm okay," berger says not sounding okay.

There was silence as we walked into this underground cave thing. We got to the railing and paused.

"Woah, this place is big," i say viewing the lower part. Lights starts turning on one by one.

"headquarter activating."

"Come on..." maya whispers.

We started making our way down the steps. "How far down are we," berger asks the same question i did.

As lights were turning on, we saw motorcycles. Vending machines. Cars, gadgets. Rocks. everything.

"This is so tight," berger says.

"This is beyond tight..." lizzie says.

"This is the tightest..." maya turns around.

"Woahhh..." i say, examining the place.

"Look at that," charlie points.

Something in the middle pops up. "Come on guys, over here," lizzie guides us down the path.

"Woah... what's this," berger says looking at the hexagon hologram thing.

"okay. how could he have built this. We're like a hundred miles underground," maya says in disbelief.

Lizzie presses a button.

"Welcome."

An orange hologram of the world appears.

Charlie reaches out, spinning the hologram world.

"Mission in progress."

"Current location... New Zealand," charlie questions.

"That's far away," lizzie mumbles.

Charlie reaches both hands out, splitting the world.

"Mission archive."

We could see places popping up and it was so cool. I've never seen this before. Like ever. Is this what all americans have? It seems like he's been all over the world.. why haven't i heard of him before.

A plane video shows up.

"Plane crash in Brazil..." charlie reads then swipes. "Nuclear meltdown in India," charlie reads then swipes. "That was all over the news," lizzie points at.

"Tsunami in Japan," charlie continues to read. "The thing in the Empires State Building," he reads.

"These are all of the guard's missions," he says looking between all of us.

"We're in the guard's secret headquarters," he exclaims.

"Which is under your dad's house," maya exclaims as well. "Do you realize what this means," berger adds on. "It means my dad... works for the guard," charlie says.

"No.." berger shakes his head, disappointed.

"Dude... It means your dad is the guard," maya tells him, chuckling. Lizzie and berger also laughs.

"What," charlie says still unsure. "no.. my dad is not the guard. The guard is like the greatest hero ever. My dad can't handle hot wings. Yeah, i've seen him without his shirt on. He can barely swim," charlie explains.

"Who's the guard," i ask. Charlie looks at me.

"Pretty much the greatest hero of all time. He saves pretty much the entire world. And most definitely not my dad," charlie tells me. I nod, trying to grasp the information.

We all slowly split, looking around the cave.

"Somebody's in denial," maya says in a funny voice.

I look around from where i am and see bodysuits. "Guys.. does the guard wear a fanny pack," lizzie asks us.

I see Charlie aggressively swipe on the hologram thing.

I place my hand on his shoulder, giving him a soft smile. He gives a smile as well.

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