Carol's vehicle cruised to a halt outside the gas station near Tuscan Hill. It was a remote location that barely ever got any customers. At the moment, when the city was under attack, any traffic was much less likely.
The gas station was boarded up and looked abandoned. Carol was about to step out of her car when she received a call. It was Claire.
"What is it? If you think you can change my mind at the last minute, forget it. I am already at the location. I'm not turning back!"
Claire had urgency in her voice. "Carol! Forget everything else! Please listen to me carefully! The element you discovered in the Tuscan Hill mines is very dangerous!"
"What do you mean by dangerous? It's just a hard substance, right? Of course, there could be military applications. But it's not nuclear or anything."
"We know nothing else about it! Apart from the fact that it can kill Caesar!"
"I… I don't understand." She knew Claire was close to Caesar and perhaps knew his true identity.
Carol had watched Caesar carry out impossible feats with her own eyes. It was a bizarre experience that shattered her reality and view of the world. Clearly, the man played a bigger role in the world, fighting evil and protecting innocents.
Not only was Caesar phenomenally wealthy, but possessed superhuman capabilities. Carol had ignored that fact and hadn't given it much thought. However, Claire was currently suggesting that the newly discovered element was a bane to his invincibility!
Carol was still on the call when a group of men in combat gear and masks emerged from the gas station. They rushed to her car at frightening speeds.
One of them opened the vehicle's door and pulled Carol outside. Her phone dropped inside before she was dragged out. Another man put handcuffs on her and escorted her inside the gas station.
"Where is my family?" Carol asked anxiously.
"Shut your mouth!" her captor ordered with a shove. "No need to make conversation with me. Miss Blackwell will hear your pleas."
Inside the gas station lobby, over fifty masked terrorists had gathered. Carol was shoved inside and made to stand against the wall.
The men snickered in unison, whistled, and taunted her.
"Looks like we caught a goldfish."
"Little business lady walked into something shady."
"Come on, baby, dance for us!"
"Shall we offer her a free cavity inspection?"
The loud tapping of heels sounded, and the terrorists went silent. Soon, the crowd parted, and a familiar young woman emerged.
"Oh, my lovely Carol…" Courtney Blackwell said smugly. "My bestie! Nice of you to visit. Care for tea?"
She was dressed in skin-fit leather, showing off her toned body. The beauty wasn't wearing a mask, and her straight hair was loose.
"Why are you doing this, Courtney?" Carol demanded. "It's crazy!"
The Blackwell heiress giggled. "Why am I doing this? Let me think… Well… Because I can!"
She was wearing combat gear and carried guns in holsters like the rest. It appeared she had done this before.
Carol curled back her lips. "How do you sleep at night knowing you are working for terrorists?" she fired back.
Courtney cackled aloud. "Working for THEM? You are as foolish as they come. THEY work for ME. How do you think the Blackwell family prospered over the last few years since I took charge? Because I was recruited as a lieutenant of Monolith! Did I put things into perspective with that piece of information?"
"But why? I thought we were friends!"
"Friends? Haha! Does a friend send her best friend to be molested by a bank Chairman?"
Carol's eyes widened. "You sent me to Talmuth Bank knowing the Chairman was a rapist!"
"Yep. I don't know how you escaped unscathed. Anyway, I won't fail to ruin you in my second attempt."
"Where is my family? Tell me now!"
Courtney smiled mockingly. "Oh, forgive me. I almost forgot about the trash we picked up earlier."
She snapped her fingers, and three men dragged in Ronald, Martha, and Josh from the adjoining room. They were handcuffed, gagged, and blindfolded. Carol's eyes moistened, and she bit her lip in anxiety. At least they weren't harmed yet.
Courtney made the Atelier family kneel in a row. She had their blindfolds and gags removed.
"Carol?" Martha wailed. "What's going on? Are you responsible for this? What have you gotten into?"
"I don't want to die!" Josh exclaimed, immediately bursting into tears. "I'm so hungry and thirsty! Someone get me a burger and a coke!"
"My dear, give them whatever they want so that they'll let us go," Ronald told his daughter with urgency. "No need to be a miser at this point."
"I sent you guys on a holiday to Miami," Carol said with furrowed brows. "Why did you come back?"
Her father shook his head in disappointment. "Your mother, me, Josh, and his girlfriend were picked up on our way to the airport."
"What? Where is Chloe? Is she alright?"
One of the terrorists stepped forward and removed their mask.
"Chloe?" Josh exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing back there?"
"So you are the one who tipped them off…" Carol said to her. The girl responded with a fiendish smirk.
"Your dumb family was easily tricked into captivity. All we had to do was tell them they won a lottery of ten million dollars. They got into our vehicle and came right here. Idiots!"
"But why do this, Chloe? Don't you love me anymore?" Josh asked with a pained expression. He had difficulty digesting that his girlfriend, on whom he had already spent several hundred thousand dollars, would betray him.
Chloe broke into laughter, and others joined her. "Love you? Have you seen yourself in the mirror, Joshie boy? You are short and fat and ugly! You're unemployed and from a middle-class family depending on scraps from billionaires! Did you really think you deserve someone like me?"
"But I thought-"
"You thought wrong, fatso! If it weren't for your sister, you'd be on the streets already, begging for bread and water! You'd also fail at that since you're such a loser!"
"Enough of the reunion," Courtney said sternly, turning to Carol. "Speaking of the sister… Let's get down to business."
Carol raised her eyes with a resolute expression. "What do you want?"
"Well… I want you dead… But that will come later. A little birdie told me you discovered a new element in the Tuscan mines earlier today. Give me the coordinates, and I'll let your family go."
Carol pursed her lips, mulling it over. Claire told her the new element would be fatal to Caesar. Even though she knew nothing about the man, he had saved her multiple times from grave danger. Didn't she owe him anything?
"I… I don't remember where it exactly is. Maybe my engineers do."
"Your engineers are dead," Courtney said coldly. "We tortured them brutally, and they told us the same bloody thing! You asked them to wipe their location and travel data along with yours… Right after you memorized the coordinates. How clever of you!"
"You killed the engineers?" Carol exclaimed in anguish. "What did they do to you? They had spouses and children! You monster!"
Slap! Courtney's hand left a mark on Carol's cheek. Her lower lip split and bled.
"Don't make me ruin that pretty face!" she growled. "Tell me where I can find the element! We're running out of time!"
Carol shook her head. "I can't. I won't. Please…”
The Blackwell heiress' eyes turned frigid. The Puppetmaster had given her a narrow timeframe for the mission.
Courtney snapped her fingers, and one of the terrorists approached Josh. He produced a knife and sliced his cheek.
"Aaaaaaa!" the brat screamed, holding onto his face. "It hurts! It hurts! Carol, help me!"
Two others walked behind Martha and Ronald and held blades to their jugulars.
"I will not ask again," Courtney gave the ultimatum. "What are the coordinates?"