Showdown

Young genius Lucius Dalworthy climbed from his Subterranean Tunneller, straightened his top hat, and strode into the underground chamber. ‘Surrender!’ he cried. ‘There is no escape for you now!’

Standing amid the steam and dust, Cressida Mandeville – his equally young and equally brilliant arch-enemy – raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s odd. I was just about to say the same thing to you.’

‘Huh! You’re so full of yourself. Face it, you’ve lost and I’ve won,’ Lucius sneered.

Cressida laughed, ‘I sure have to admire the fact that you were able to find me, but in the end you became too big for your boots, and I’m afraid to say that it all ends now.’

Then Cressida couldn’t help but chuckle, before bursting into a coughing fit where he spluttered and wheezed like a rusty car breaking down. Lucius eyed him warily and just at that moment, the last of the steam and dust cleared away like curtains parting on a stage. Lucius’s jaw literally hit the ground. He couldn’t believe his eyes which boggled at the sight. Right in front of him was a group of scruffy bandits and thugs! The confident manner that he had possessed instantly vanished into thin air and was replaced by a look of sheer terror and disbelief and with that, Lucius pivoted on his heel and started running, just as Cressida commanded, ‘Get him, boys!’

He was almost at the entrance of the underground chamber when two thugs materialised, brandishing knives. Lucius gulped and immediately veered sideways before slipping into a corridor. He sprinted through the corridor and arrived at a conveyor belt leading to the surface of the chamber. He expertly jumped onto it as the conveyor belt carried him up. Several of the thugs were climbing aboard as well and Lucius turned around to look, which made him lose his footing and that would’ve cost him his life if it wasn’t for his lightning-sharp reflexes. He couldn’t resist a sigh of relief but unexpectedly, a knife whizzed past his ear, missing him by millimetres. A cold hand clutched his heart and squeezed. His mind was pounding and adrenaline rushed through his veins.

‘Come on,’ Lucius urged desperately and right on cue, he was greeted by a pitch black sky, decorated with sparkling stars and a full moon. Without breaking his stride, or even pausing for the tiniest fraction of a second, he rushed to his Subterranean Tunneller, leapt into it, gunned up the engine and sped off into the endless black night. The screams of ‘Get back here!’ from the thugs gradually faded as Lucius continued driving, without stopping to look back.

Ten minutes later, Cressida arrived at the surface, panting hard. Suddenly, he realised that Lucius had escaped, and screamed, ‘NNNOOOO!!’ His shrill voice disappeared into the night.

A few kilometres away, Lucius cursed. His mission had gone right down the drain. ‘Damn it,’ he growled softly. He had no idea that at that moment, Cressida was saying the exact same thing.

By Warren Lee, Year 8 (Male)