The Sensational Squad and the Amethyst Rose part 2

After a two-hour journey and several queues of traffic, we arrived at our destination of Carrington. On first inspection, the town seemed like no other, with its range of shops, cafes and bars and restaurants. But there was no time to explore. Our aim was to find the Amethyst Rose and return to London.

Needless to say, Laura wasn’t too impressed and neither were Hayley and Elliot.

“I was hoping to see more of the town". pouted Hayley.

“Me too” whined Laura. "And I saw some good fashion boutiques we passed earlier.

“And I saw some good shops we passed earlier.” Stephanie cried.

“Don't fret, guys” Kyoko tried her best to lift her teammates spirits’ up. “I'm sure we'll somehow find the time to see the place. Right now, we have to concentrate on getting that diamond.”

The seven of us were dressed in very casual attire with most of us wearing jeans, hoodies and trainers. Laura and Hayley were as usual dressed impeccably, with identical black skirts and white tank tops, protected from the cold by their jackets. Their feet covered by white flat heel pumps.

“How long are we going to wait here?” Elliot asked impatiently.

”Until we get something on our radar.” I called out from within the Carrier. We had parked up in an alleyway just off the High Street. Although there weren’t many people around, we didn’t want to arouse any suspicions.

I looked up to the sky, the sun was almost engulfed by the dark grey clouds that were now forming; I prayed that no raindrops accompanied them. Luckily, none so far.

Suddenly, an unnerving feeling ran through my mind. I don’t know where it came from, but it made me have second thoughts about the mission. “Was it really worth coming all the way here?” I thought to myself.

No matter what my judgement was, the artefact had to be recovered.

We had only been waiting for fifteen minutes but to us, it felt like an eternity.
Fortunately, our patience would pay off. Whilst I was arguing whether we should have bothered or not, a beeping noise came from the carrier's radar, which meant only one thing, the suspects were not that far.

“Come on, team, let’s get them!” Daniel cried as the others leapt into the Carrier. Driving through the town centre, the seven of us kept a very close eye on the radar, making sure not to lose track of the bandits. At the same time, we drove slowly to give some distance between them and us. We didn't want to give them the impression that they were being pursued.


The thieves led us to a large warehouse on the town’s outskirts. We parked the carrier a few metres away from where the bandits had left their getaway vehicle, it was a large black SUV similar in design to the SS Carrier, only a bit smaller.

We hid behind a stack of abandoned tyres, on the lookout for any signs of the bandits.

Daniel and his eagle-eye managed to spot them first, there were around four of them (but I personally thought there could've been more involved in the robbery), one of them stood out from the rest, he was dressed in a very a sharp suit comprised of a black coat, grey shirt, immaculate black shoes and white gloves. In addition, there was a bowler hat placed on his head and a black and red cape, his face covered by a white mask.

They were clearly talking about something, but we could only see their lips moving.

“That must be them”. Stephanie whispered.

“Wonder what are they talking about?” Kyoko asked.

“I'm not sure but it doesn't sound too good” Laura whispered uneasily.

“At least he’s got fashion sense”. Hayley giggled quietly. It was good to know that she still kept a sense of humour in tense situations.

“Well what are waiting for?” Elliot said impatiently. “Why can’t we stop them now?”

“We can’t just charge straight into there, Elliot”. I said exasperatedly. “We have to wait until they’re gone”.

Sure enough, the criminals retreated into the warehouse.

“The coast is clear, now let’s return to the Carrier, get our kits on and retrieve the diamond”. I said.

Our costumes were a mix of jumpsuits and leotards and had the same motif of lightning bolt-like stripes but in different colours. Elliot's was red and white, Kyoko's was white and blue, Stephanie's was pink and black, Laura's was green and white, Hayley's was orange and black, Daniel's was grey and black and mine was blue and yellow. All our outfits had the letters SS in white surrounded by a white circle.

We also had codenames for each other, Elliot was Rapidfire, Stephanie was Gemini Girl, Kyoko was Snowstorm, Laura was Atomica, Hayley was Miracle, Daniel was Kid Steel and I was Captain Lightning. You’ll see why we’re called those names later.

“Are we ready, team?" I asked as we formed a circle and simultaneously placed our hands in the centre.

"Yeah!" the others yelled.

We then scurried over to the building, peeking through a side window to check for any goons patrolling the area. Luckily, there weren’t any.

Opening the window, I climbed through and dropped onto the warehouse floor with a small thud. I grimaced, hoping nobody heard my landing.

“Be careful guys!” I called out to my friends. “Try not to make too much noise!”

The rest of the team jumped through the window and we immediately began scanning the area. The warehouse was huge and dimly lit with only three or four overhead lights and was very dusty. There was also a strange stench of damp in the air.

“Who’d want to hide in a place like this?” Laura asked.

"This place could do with a good dusting down" Hayley exclaimed.

"And a good dose of air freshener too!" Stephanie added disgustedly as the smell hit her nostrils.

I didn’t reply. That anxious feeling I had experienced earlier had resurfaced once more, only this time, it was worse.

And as we walked slowly through the warehouse, we would soon realize that we were not the only ones searching for the Amethyst Rose…