Byrds:Strange Valley

Chapter Three-The Basement

It's Saturday,four days after the thug incident at the alley-Strange Valley Police(SVP)has discarded the event as an unimportant one with the belief that a rival gang had bested the thugs and dumped them in the alley.Other citizens of Strange Valley also share this belief but Harriet,Sarah and Ashley knows better-In the past four days since the incident Harriet had confided in Ashley about her actions and the latter consoled her and advised her to find peace within herself.
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Harriet may be mortified by Monday but she is a proud lover of Saturdays-mainly because her aunt goes on her undisclosed job on Saturdays leaving Harriet all by herself.But unfortunately for Harriet this Saturday was destined to be different.
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Elsewhere in Strange Valley another lover of Saturdays is running across Strange Valley at a super human rate to his destination.Upon arrival he is unable to stop his acceleration thus resulting in the destruction of a door as he unintentionally barges into the house he intended to visit."Ronnie Rowland?" a young lady asks as she wields a metallic baseball."Hi sis,miss me?.Ronnie Rowland replies as he lay still,face first on the floor.Ronnie's elder sister Lily Rowland offers Ronnie a hand to get him on his feet"How many times do I have to tell you to make use of a bus or just buy a bicycle for Christ sake"Lily says as she hugs Ronnie."Won't you say you miss me?"Ronnie ask his sister "You know I'll never say it" she simply reply and they both chuckle.
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Back at Ashley's mansion Harriet is having her breakfast while watching her favorite sitcom.She thought the day was going to be good like ever other Saturday but she is soon proven wrong.*Ding Dong*-it's the sound of the doorbell.Harriet initially thought her aunt was at the door but she is spited immediately at the face she saw-Sarah's."Get out!!" Harriet yells as she slams the door at Sarah's face."Please just hear me out I come in peace"Sarah pleads as she knocks on the door."What do you want?"Harriet asks "To pay you a visit and apologize for the alley incident"Sarah quickly replies as she fails to come up with a sensible lie "Well,you've apologized already and I've forgiven you.So tell me what you really want"Harriet keeps on trying not to give in to her conscience and open the door for Sarah."Okay you've got me,i'm bored at home so I decided to pay you a visit"Sarah says with a sad voice which leads Harriet to foolishly open the door for Sarah.Sarah lets out an evil smirk and puts on an hazmat mask just before she sprays Harriet with a gas which sends her into an unconscious state.
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At Lily's home she plays table tennis with her brother who keeps cheating by employing his superspeed and reflex.At 300(Ronnie)-2(Lily) the game is stopped when Lily receives a call from an unknown contact.Lily listens attentively to the caller and the call is ended with Lily telling the caller she'll get right on it."Is it work?"Ronnie ask his sister as she hang up."Yeah it's work,duty calls Ronnie I've got to go"Lily says as she hugs Ronnie and set off to work.Ronnie sighs as Lily leaves and he starts playing table tennis with himself (possible due to his superspeed).
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Back at Ashley's mansion Sarah is carrying out her hidden agenda.A sledgehammer is seemingly needed to carry out her agenda as she employs the use of one from the garage and starts breaking up the floors in the mansion.Harriet who was supposedly unconscious is left on a sofa by Sarah,but she wasn't knocked out earlier as she held her breath while Sarah sprayed her.Now she watches as Sarah wrecks the parlour floor hoping to see what the latter might be possibly looking for.
  After a few more seconds of sledgehammering Sarah found just the exact thing she was hoping to find-A hatch covered by the parlour floor.Sarah opens the hatch and descends down a ladder attached adjacent to the wall below the hatch.
Harriet is surprised by this and decides to go after Sarah.
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After a long climb down Sarah arrives at a basement and is left awestruck by its designs and hugeness.
-The basement is a well decorated place with modernized  furniture,computers and a mini lab located at the east side.
"I wonder what other secrets mom is hiding" Sarah thought to herself.Just as Sarah prepare to start exploring the basement she is interrupted by Harriet."Don't move" Harriet says as her hand glows -ready to defend herself if Sarah attacks."I thought.... oh you held your breath,clever girl" Sarah says as she curls her fingers into a fist -ready to hurt her cousin if necessary.
  "What exactly are you hoping to find?"Harriet asks as she stares at Sarah's fist -she has seen Sarah punched people before and she doesn't want to be a recipient of such punches.
"Can't you think straight Harriet?" -Sarah answers with a question of her own,she also stare at Harriet's glowing hand which is already emitting smoke."My mom is hidden stuff and I've got to find it" Sarah says as she uncurls her fist."
"Leave now Sarah or I'll have to force you"Harriet say as she reduces the glow in her hands.
Sarah pretends like she's going to leave but just as she gets close to the ladder she charges back at Harriet and punched the latter sending her flying into several furnitures.Sarah shows little remorse at her actions and she tells Harriet to mind her business.Sarah then starts ascending the ladder with the intention to visit the basement another day,but to her utmost surprise Harriet melts the upper part of the ladder thus dividing the ladder in two and bringing Sarah back into the basement.Harriet moves slowly towards Sarah and immediately the latter is left on a state of extreme fear as the Harriet she knows is not the one she's seeing.
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Ashley arrives home after her part-time job. She takes a look at her wristwatch "It's 11:30" she says quietly to herself.Just as she prepares to proceed into her mansion the next thing she heard was *BOOM* accompanied with a burst of heliokinetic energy blast through the downward east part of the mansion.She rapidly starts for the mansion to figure out just what is happening.
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Inside the mansion Harriet and Sarah had extended their fight from the trashed basement to the wrecked parlour to the burning kitchen(which exploded earlier) and now the fight is upstairs in a room which Harriet has designated as a personal video game room.During the fight Harriet has gotten the upper hand and has managed to bruise Sarah invulnerable skin.Sarah is battered and her stamina has deteriorated greatly.Left with no other choice she decides to beg Harriet but the latter won't listen.As Harriet prepares to deliver the killing blow she is stopped by a sonic blast which throws her through numerous rooms and out through the mansion."You've got a lot of explaining to do" Ashley sneers at Sarah after saving her.
-With the display of her powers Ashley reveals that she can somehow control sound.
  Ashley quickly runs through the holes left by her vibrational blast on Harriet to meet the latter outside the mansion while Sarah follow suit.
-Harriet who had previously turned into a diabolical flaming being after the punch by Sarah,has been reversed to her original self.
Ashley quickly tends to her niece to check for injuries but to her surprise Harriet is left unscathed,but the case is not the same for Sarah as she is very well scathed.
"You two are going to tell me what happened here"  Ashley scorns at Harriet and Sarah.
"I didn't mean to hurt Sarah" Harriet says in an apologetic voice."Well I never should have punched you"Sarah also apologize to Harriet -but she only did it because of her mom's presence"
  "Okay I accept that it's all my fault"Ashley says and pause a bit before continuing "I never should have kept it a secret from the both of you.....it's about time you girls know the truth about our family".
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Elsewhere Leonard arrives in a city with a huge banner; inscribed on it are the following words "Welcome To Strange Valley The Magnificent City".