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Change of Plans - Ch. 1

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Summary: A Total Drama fanfic. Courtney wants revenge against Duncan and Gwen, and soon Cody becomes an unwitting part of her plans. But when the ploy changes into something more, Cody, Courtney and Sierra will have to deal with the consequences. Eventual Cody/Courtney, AU from "The Ex-Files" onward.

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"The Ex-Files," Part 1

It had been more than a day since the plane had taken off from Athens, and things were still tense among the passengers in first class.

For her part, Courtney was doing what she usually did in stressful situations: carefully analyzing her problems and determining a structured strategy for dealing with them in the form of a to-do list.

"Pummel Duncan…pummel Gwen…wash socks…"

She suddenly threw back her head and wailed, a pattern that had been running for most of the past twenty-four hours. Meanwhile Sierra was carefully cutting out a Gwen-shaped paper doll, singing under her breath and actually managing to look more like an escaped mental patient than Courtney did.

"…the cradle will fall…and down—will—come—GWEN!" She let out a roar, crushed the doll in her hand and suddenly bit off its head. She chewed for a moment, then spit it out angry onto the empty seat next to Courtney, which already contained half a dozen other chewed-up paper wads.

Cody looked up from unwrapping his candy long enough to give Sierra a worried look. The psychotic fan was already cutting out another doll as Courtney had gone back to angry writing. He turned back to his candy, trying to ignore them.

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Cody: Okay, I realize that what Gwen did was…sort-of-not-entirely-a-good-thing, but I'm sort of worried that these girls are taking it a bit too far. (looks nervous) I'm more scared now than I was during the serial killer challenge.

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Cody popped another candy into his mouth and leaned out into the aisle, catching sight of Gwen sitting alone in the other set of chairs, looking irritably out the window. She had barely spoken to anyone since Athens…Cody felt a stab of pain in his chest and thought about going over to her. Then he gave Sierra a look as she chewed another doll head and decided against it; so far, she had followed him every time he had tried to go and talk to Gwen. It was sort of hard to express your sympathies when a deranged psychopath was clearing her throat loudly every five seconds and shooting death glares at the person you were trying to console.

Cody sighed, looking away and slumping in his seat. He wanted Gwen to know she wasn't alone, though. That not everybody on the team thought she was a horrible person just because of a tiny, one-time indiscretion.

Because of course it was just a single indiscretion. There was no chance that the time Tyler had caught them kissing could have been anything other than the first. Or that she would ever want to kiss him again, Cody assured himself.

Yeah. Of course not.

Cody sighed wearily, chewing miserably on yet another piece of candy.

And there was another, slightly less honorable reason Cody wished he could be sitting with Gwen right now...because, he was reluctantly willing to admit to himself, he was sort of hoping that she had been impressed by the previous challenge's events. After all, she had to be, right? He had saved her! He had saved her, not some two-bit punk who had been taking a nap while her fate had been hanging in the balance. (That was not an entirely accurate description of the situation, but it was how Cody chose to remember it.) That had to have helped to make her realize how he felt about her, right? That had to impress her...she had to be thankful for that. And he really wanted to hear her say that.

And, while he could totally understand why Gwen would want to stay away from him with Sierra hanging around him all the time, he had to admit he was a little put-off that she hadn't come to thank him herself, if only really quickly.

He looked away from Gwen now, making a face. He popped another candy into his mouth, chewing slowly. He should probably stop eating these, he thought; his teeth were starting to feel funny, and it wasn't like he still had any of the nine toothbrushes he had come onto the show with.

Besides, somehow they were starting to taste a lot less sweet as this season went on.

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Like the others Gwen was thinking about the events of the past few days, and like the others she didn't find them to be particularly happy thoughts.

First of all, she wasn't entirely sure where she stood with Duncan. He and Courtney had "officially" broken up now (during the middle of dinner, and Duncan was still using an ice pack to recover from the argument), though they had never really talked to confirm whether that meant that they were "officially" dating. Which led to a whole lot of issues about being on separate teams, memories about how that had screwed things up with Trent, et cetera, but she did know this: as of that moment, he was the only person in this game she could rely on at the moment.

Among her own team, she was an outcast.

Courtney hated her, obviously. And Heather had always hated her, so whether or not she cared about the Duncan thing she was going to milk this situation for all it was worth. Sierra had never really forgiven Gwen for being the object of Cody's affections, and Cody...

Gwen glanced away from the window, catching sight of her friend. He was unwrapping his candy in a distracted sort of way, sitting across from Courtney and next to Sierra. She turned away again, grimacing. He had been with at least one of the others for the entire flight, and to her own surprise that bugged her, a lot. He was her only possible ally among the Amazons, and she couldn't help but wonder if that was even true anymore.

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Gwen: You know, I wasn't really thinking about it much, what with the whole Courtney thing to worry about, but...I think I accidentally hurt Cody with the whole Duncan thing. Not that that's my fault—I mean, I can't put off dating forever just because he won't take a hint, right? ! (sighs, blows hair out of her face) Still, I don't like thinking that I made two of my friends hate me. Especially since I need all the friends I can get right now.

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Courtney flipped the page of her notepad and kept writing, and then, like a well-timed geyser, suddenly threw back her head and wailed again, this time longer and louder than before. Cody flinched, nearly dropping his newest piece of candy, and looked around desperately—Sierra just continued her doll-making as Courtney kept crying, showing no sign of going back to her work. He gulped, looking from one teammate to another nervously.

"Um…there, there, Courtney. Don't cry," he said, giving her an awkward and stiff pat on the knee. "Um, uh—want some candy?"

He held out the piece he had been unwrapping, flashing her an awkward gap-toothed smile. Courtney looked up, finally ending her wail—and suddenly snarled at him, making him jump back in surprise. She took up her notepad and began writing again, grumbling angrily.

Cody sighed again, throwing the candy into his mouth.

Sometimes, even he couldn't understand these girls.

Cody turned and looked past Sierra to the window, watching the dark sky go by. It was night wherever they were, though Cody's biological and digital watch both claimed it was somewhere more in the mid-to-late morning. The whole plane ran on Toronto time, since it was impossible to keep up with the constantly-changing time zones. He wondered if there would be a challenge today, or if they needed more time to get to wherever they were going next. He was sort of hoping for one, to be honest…otherwise he would have nothing to do but sit around all day and endure everybody else's bitterness. He wished Noah hadn't gotten voted off, otherwise he could have at least gone to Loser Class and borrowed a book or something...

Something streaked past the window, too fast for Cody to fully make out. He blinked. Was that another…plane or something? Flying that close, let alone so much faster than them? He stared for a moment, then elbowed Sierra. "Hey, did you see—"

Suddenly the whole plane began shaking, as if they were flying through a minor storm. Courtney and Sierra looked up from their respective "work," as did Gwen from her glaring and Heather from her animated talk with the barkeeping intern.

After a moment the loudspeaker crackled to life, and Chris' oddly-chipper voice rang out through the plane.

"Attention, potential crash victims! Please remain calm. Out auto-pilot is testing some equipment. Snacks in the common area if you don't believe me and want a last meal."

"Does that mean we're supposed to go?"

"I guess," Courtney muttered. She and Sierra both looked put-off as they pocketed their equipment; Cody, however, smiled as he rose to his feet, and his smile widened as he caught sight of Gwen stride out of first class, looking sour. Now was his chance. He automatically moved to approach her—

"Whoa!"

—until Sierra grabbed his arm, pulling him slightly back before she began to walk, leading him behind her. "Come on, darling!"

Cody sighed for the third time in five minutes, head drooping as he followed behind her.

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"You call these snacks? ! We're all gonna diiiiii-i-i-ie!"

Gwen, along with most of the other remaining contestants, watched as Owen shoved an entire bunch of unpeeled bananas into his mouth, sobbing hysterically. None of the others seemed particularly concerned, though, even as the plane was shaking more violently than before—they had flown through turbulence before, and if anything, she was willing to bet from Chris' announcement that this was some sort of stunt to freak them out. (If nothing else she doubted he would have actually stuck around to make an announcement if they were in any actual danger.)

"Looking especially pasty this morning," a familiar voice said playfully from behind her, causing Gwen to turn. Duncan smirked at her, still sporting the black eye Cody had given him.

"That means so much coming from a cyclops," she teased, smirking right back at him. His own smile grew broader, into one of those rare, toothy smiles that he almost never showed.

Courtney recognized that smile instantly from across the room. It was her smile—or had been, once. That particular lovestruck smile that Gwen had stolen from her.

"UGH!"

"Unbelievable!" a voice said from behind her at practically the same moment. Courtney spun around, a fierce look on her face—Alejandro put his hands up defensively, frowning.

"Forgive me, I'm simply offended on your behalf!" he said, as Courtney put her hands on her hips and gave him a slightly-less-angry look. "Perhaps a little payback is in order?"

"Oh, I've got some payback planned, believe me!" Courtney said, turning to Gwen a dark look, her blood boiling.

"Oh, I'm sure you do," Alejandro said quickly, surprising Courtney by throwing his arm around her shoulders and leaning down for a conspiratorial whisper. "But I was thinking, how about fighting fire with fire? How would Duncan like it if you flirted with someone?"

Courtney raised her eyebrows in confusion, while Alejandro quirked his, still smirking as he released her. She turned, thinking about it for a moment—then slowly grinned before turning back to him, nodding.

"That might just be a good idea," Courtney said slowly. She gave him a surprised, appreciative look. "Thanks, Alejandro."

"Think nothing of it, my dear señorita," he said, giving a quick bow before he turned and walked away, hiding his own evil smirk.

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Alejandro: (tapping chin thoughtfully) Problem: Duncan is a strong player. Solution? Courtney is volatile. She'll throw the Amazons off their game, and Duncan off his game too. All she needs is a little push.

(chuckles) I swear…sometimes this game is almost too easy.

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Courtney: Duncan will lose it! It's basic break-up math. The more mad Duncan gets, the more jealous he looks, the cruddier Gwen feels, the more vindicated I am. It's perfect!

(pauses, taps chin) But the question is…who am I going to flirt with?

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There were five boys left in the game. Courtney surveyed the room, weighing her options.

Obviously, Duncan himself was out. There was Owen, still freaking out and currently chewing on a parachute he had found…pass. Tyler was trying to do pull-ups on an overhanging pipe, chanting something about leaving a "beautiful corpse." Well, he was good-looking, if only in a still-never-gonna-happen sort of way…other than him, there was either Alejandro himself, or—

Her eyes froze on a certain scrawny nerd, who was trying to break free of Sierra's grip as she hugged him close "for protection" from the plane troubles.

Courtney's mouth twisted into a triumphant grin.

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Courtney: Cody, of course! Not only is he a weak, scrawny little loser that Duncan would hate to lose to, but flirting with him is the perfect chance to make Gwen feel jealous, too! Let's see how she likes it when somebody tries to steal her fawning love interesting, huh? !

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Courtney sidled across the common area just as Cody managed to pull himself away form Sierra's grasp. Unfortunately, he pulled away a bit roughly, so that he stumbled and bumped into Courtney. Both of them let out a cry as they fell to the floor, Cody on top of her.

"Gah! Um—sorry, Courtney!" he said, quickly scrambling himself off of her and bracing for her furious reaction.

Courtney rubbed her head, glaring, but quickly caught herself and forced a smile, giggling girlishly.

"Oh…don't worry about it, silly," she said, climbing to her feet and dusting herself off as Cody blinked in confusion. "Oh, wow, is that a new shirt?" she asked, bending down to playfully poke at his familiar sweater-vest. "It looks great on you."

"Um…thanks?" Cody said, glancing down at his outfit. Behind him, Sierra was giving Courtney a confusedlook, but Courtney didn't bother to notice—she was glancing back at Duncan, who was now standing by himself. From the annoyed look on his face, Courtney guessed he had noticed everything that just happened.

She smirked triumphantly—which nobody else saw, as at that moment, all the lights suddenly went out.

Everybody gasped loudly.

PFOOT!

Even in the dark, all eyes shot in the direction of the noise (and foul, rapidly-spreading smell).

"…The dark as my witness, that was not me," Owen said.

Several people probably would have contested this claim, were they not distracted by the plane shooting into a sudden nosedive.

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH—!"

Everybody as the whole plane lurched downward. Courtney lost her footing and went flying through the dark air, slamming into several other people—pain mixed with terror until suddenly the plane righted itself, then quite suddenly it fell again, straight toward the ground about ten feet below. There was a huge THUD! followed by the lights flickering back into existence.

Everybody stopped screaming (except for Owen) and Courtney groaned, feeling somebody's knee digging into the small of her back. She turned around to see Cody lying on top of her again, with Sierra on top of him; as soon as she got off (which required some pushing on Cody's part) he got off of Courtney, sheepishly reaching down to help her to her feet.

"Heh…twice in less than five minutes. What are the odds?"

Courtney forced herself to look vapid again. "Oh…I certainly don't mind," she giggled, accepting his hand. Once again she failed to notice Sierra, who was staring at her with an inscrutable expression in her narrowed eyes.

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The plane had landed in a desert. What desert none of the contestants knew for sure—all any of them knew was that it was somewhere to the west of Athens, which didn't really narrow it down very much. A few minutes after their arrival Chris and Chef had directed them out into the chilly night air, where they stood in a vaguely-organized group, looking around in confusion.

Despite the darkness, Cody noticed that Chris was wearing sunglasses and, more noticeably, what looked like an unstrapped military hardhat with a star decal on it. That gave me a slightly nervous feeling. He wasn't sure any military-based challenges were going to be pleasant; he certainly wouldn't trust either co-host with a gun.

"Everyone, welcome to the coolest, extraterrestrialest place in the world—Area 52!"

"Fifty-Two?" Gwen said, quirking an eyebrow. "Area Fifty-One is where all the cool alien stuff is."

"This show's so broke we have to fake an Area now?" Duncan quipped.

Chris just smiled. "Nope! This really is Area 52. That's Area 51 right there."

Chris pointed at a large stone formation off in the distance; Cody assumed he meant something behind it, since there were bright lights visible on either side of the rocks. "We're just inside the border," Chris explained. "Well…all of us except Duncan."

As if on cue (and since Chris was involved, that could not be ruled out), a red-white beam of buzzing energy shot out of nowhere and hit Duncan, who indeed had been standing a foot or two away from anybody else. Everybody gasped as the beam lifted him off the ground like a tractor beam, his body crackling with electricity and giving brief X-ray flashes through his skin.

"Duncan!" Gwen cried.

While everybody stared in horror and Duncan let out cries of pain, Chris calmly took out what looked like a bulky, camouflaged-colored phone.

"Thanks for the laser show, Colonel."

As if on cue again (and this time more obviously so), the laser vanished and Duncan fell to the ground, now smoking and charred. Chris' smirk grew.

"It's good to have friends in Area 51 places," he quipped. Before Cody could even fully process how lame a pun that was, however, he suddenly jumped as somebody grabbed his shoulders and laughed, loudly, right in his ear.

"AH-ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha—funny, don't you think, Cody?"

"Um…"

Once again Sierra's eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously, while Cody followed Courtney fierce, triumphant gaze to Duncan, who was now coughing up small puffs of smoke. In fact Cody had been a bit scared for the guy a second ago, even though he was far from his favorite person in the world right now.

…Though, on the other hand, he seemed alright now, more or less. And it certainly couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Cody's eyes turned to Courtney, a small smile passing across his face. Then he suddenly heard two angry growls and turned, catching both Gwen and Sierra looking at him crossly. He went into a quick mental panic—er, had to remember not to hate Duncan so much in front of Gwen. Or Sierra. Except—wait, why did she care? She had certainly enjoyed Cody punching him in the last challenge—well, who keep figure her out, Gwen was the one who mattered anyway.

Cody looked away from all of the girls, forcing his face into a carefully neutral expression. Meanwhile Duncan climbed to his feet, glaring at him—but more so at Courtney.

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Duncan: Flirting with Cody? I knew she hated me, but I had no idea she hated me that much. Wow.

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Cody: Is it just me, or is Courtney acting kinda weird today? I mean, she was crying and yelling at me a little while ago, and now suddenly she's all…(scratches head) I dunno…friendly or something. Huh.

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"Listen up, space cases," Chris said a few minutes later, standing beside a large flat-screen TV that looked rather incongruously in the middle of the Great Basin Desert. The screen was staticky for a moment, then switched to what seemed to be a layout of the area, with the large rock formation visible in front of a large area blank of anything but some X's and a large "51" logo.

"The Five-One is the most tightly-protected military base in the world. Which, is why tonight's challenge is going to be so much FUN! For me," he added, as the contestants exchanged nervous looks.

"Part 1—break into Area 51 without getting shot, gassed, plasma-rayed or otherwise killed." On the screen, a logo appeared for each team, showing paths to take around either side of the rock formation. "The place is guarded by elite black-ops soldiers, so, if anyone does get all…exploded, their untimely but hilarious demise will be blamed on a freak weather balloon accident. Part 2—"

"Um, wait, let me get this straight," Heather interrupted. "You're telling me we're actually supposed to break into this place?"

"Yes. Yes, I am," Chris said pleasantly, flashing his toothy grin. "Is there a problem?"

"Um, yeah," Courtney said. "I'm pretty sure something like this is really illegal. As in, 'cause a major international incident' illegal!"

"Yeah, I know!" From Chris' expression, one might have thought it was DisneyWorld they were breaking into. "And coupled with how much conspiracy geeks want to see inside this place? Whoo! We expect major ratings out of this one, let me tell you!"

"So you're willing to risk a war with the United States—our nuclear-armed ally—for the sake of ratings?"

"Meh, it takes more than this to cause a war these days," Alejandro shrugged, then chuckled. "Why, with all the international laws me and my brothers broke back at the embassy alone—"

Everybody turned to give him a look. He stopped in mid-sentence, then looked away. "Never mind."

"Ahem," Chris said loudly. "If I may continue? Part 2—each teammust find a gen-u-ine functioning alien artificat inside Area 51's infamous black box warehouse. The place is full of broken alien junk. You need to find something alien that still works. But, be careful! The warehouse is loaded with booby-traps. Part 3—"

"Okay, wait-wait-wait, hold on a second there!"

"Ugh…yes, Courtney?"

"Do you honestly expect us to believe we're going to find real alien artifacts in this place?" She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. Heather had a similar stance.

"Yeah, when you say 'genuine alien artifacts,' what exactly do you mean? Like, toy ray guns you had interns plant there earlier today or something?"

"Nope. I mean one hundred percent legit, people. These are real alien items them Yanks have been storing up in there."

"Ha. Surely you jest."

"He's pullin' our leg."

"Hey! He could be telling the truth!" Sierra said, looking indignant. "Couldn't he, Cody?"

"Um…maybe?" Cody drummed his fingers together nervously, looking off at the distant rock formation. He actually did believe in aliens, in an abstract "the universe is more than thirteen billion light years across, so there's probably something out there somewhere" sort of way, but the thought of hunting for actual, tactual evidence here and now (through a secret foreign military base!) struck him as kind of surreal. Heck, he had video games at home that made more sense than this game sometimes.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Fine, believe what you want. Just don't come crying to me if any of you get probed in there and weren't adequately prepared. Part 3—the winning team must bring their working artifact back to Area 52, intact," he said, as the Teams Amazon and Chris icons on the screen reversed their paths and were replaced with a large check mark. "Last team back faces elimination, and do not get caught over there! Rumor has it that trespassors get a memory-wipe and are transferred to an alien colony where they either become slaves…or food."

He allowed the contestants to share one last, nervous glance amongst themselves before pointing off toward the rock formation. "You have 'til dawn. GO!"

Chapter One of "Change of Plans," which is either late or early depending on when you assume I was supposed to put this up. My working plan is to update again next Friday and go weekly from there, though I'm still debating the day.

Plus, you know, the whole "weekly" thing probably won't last longer than a few updates anyway. ^^;

I wish this chapter could have deviated a bit more from canon, but those changes will build up as the story goes on. This is largely setting up plot and the characters' emotions, and hopefully I did a good job.

I appreciate any feedback, whether mindless praise or constructive criticism. ;-) Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Prologue: [link]
Next Chapter: [link]
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Wertyla's avatar
This is really funny and written really well. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to read the rest of the story!