So, just a quick note before I began this story. In case you're wondering what happened to Spy school's gone. I'm taking a little break with that. I sort of wrote myself into a corner so I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Anyway, enjoy the story and please, if you can, review.

The final bell rang, school was, finally, out. Finals week was always nerve-racking and stressful beyond belief. Bomb defusal, war games, strategic tests, trying to remember what the five essential points of counter-espionage were. I had managed to get through this one of a kind hell, though, and was looking forward to a week off. We didn't get the summer off as spy school also had a torturous summer program.

My leg winced as I walked down the hall, I had barely passed the "Withstanding torture test". Which was obvious to everyone that is was just an excuse to let older students practice their techniques. Some of the more experienced (And arguably smarter) of my peers managed to pass without stepping one foot into the room. They had either made up excuses, exchanged threats, or simply bribed the teachers.

"Stop acting like a little baby." A voice said behind me. Erica.

"Come on, if you had to be stuck in a concrete bunker for 5 hours straight being tortured by the strongest person in the 6th year, you'd be limping too." I shot back. Erica had been one of the smarter ones. Yet she, unlike the rest, didn't even have to lift a finger. Her reputation did all of the work for her. Erica Hale was the most experienced and best spy in the whole school. Cold, cunning, and insanely beautiful, she was to be the top pick for important missions when she graduates.

"Well, you should've done the same as the rest of us." She replied.

"Why are you here?" I asked her, trying to avoid the subject of the finals. Yet, I was also curious. Erica never struck up a conversation without having a very important reason for it. She wasn't the people type, going as far as to try and avoid them. However, when she needed to be, she could change her personality to the point where she's unrecognizable. This, along with her many talents, earned her the nickname "The Ice Queen" by Zoe.

She started to walk towards the entrance to one of the many tunnels that lay beneath the school. I followed her as we made our way to a massive conference room that I had never seen before. With high ceilings and pristine marble floors, it caught the eye. Yet the size of the room actually worked against it. Instead of awing and impressing me, the lack of people in the room instead made it feel awkward and uncomfortable. Only two other people were in the room. Cyrus and Alexander Hale.

"What took you so long?" Cyrus demanded as we took a seat.

"This idiot sitting next to me was limping the whole time." Erica pointed to me. My self-esteem was already low sitting next to the Hales as they constantly shot it down, yet this still hurt. I had a massive crush on Erica, and the words, no matter how true, still killed my excitement to be sitting next to some of the greatest spies in the US. (Alexander was a sham, however).

"Hey!" I yelped, even though my self-esteem was non-existent, I was still trying to preserve the last once of my pride as well. "Come on, I kept on with you, and you were walking fast."

"This isn't the time for excuses, Ripley. Own up to your mistake." Cyrus said. Even though he was one of (and possibly the) greatest spy ever in the CIA, that didn't mean that his personality was great. He could be a 1st class jerk sometimes, and it turned out that this was one of those times.

"Listen, dad," Alexander said, coming to my defense. "It's a hard test, and they did get here on time."

"Everyone, stop!" Cryus cut in. "We don't have the time to be messing around on who got here on time or if someone was limping, so cut it." Even though he was being hypocritical, I accepted it anyway.

"So," Cyrus continued. "I guessing that you know why you're here." He took a look at both of us. I nodded, eager to hear more. "You will be sent on a fully authorized mission, to Asia, or more specifically, China." He then handed us the mission dossiers. I opened it with a pocket knife that I kept on me at all times. Even though I sharped it regularly, it was still extremely difficult to open it. When I finally managed to complete the herculean task, a plane ticket fell out, as well as a massive amount of cash, a phone, a sim card, a passport, a watch, a micro earpiece, sunglasses, and a letter.

To Ben Ripley,

You have been selected for operation crouching tiger. Enclosed will be needed items as well as instructions on how to use them. Along with 70,000 RMB, roughly equivalent to $10,000.

Your mission is to infiltrate the Shang's corporate and political headquarters, located in Beijing, China. We have reason to suspect that they are funding SPYDER. In case you forgot, you have had experiences with Jessica Shang, who now runs the place.

Little information is known about them, and none of it relevant to your success.

Good luck,

Agent Ribbon.

Central Intelligence Agency.

"So…" I uttered. Everyone looked at me. I stuttered, growing more nervous each second. "Th-tha-that's it?" I asked, my voice shaking from fear. "Th-there's no more information on them?"

"Well, what more do you expect? A highly detailed book on what they do in their daily lives, what their organization does, and how to beat it?" Cyrus asked, sarcastically.

"Yes." That had been exactly what I expected.

"Too bad for you then. So y-" Cyrus started, he was then interrupted by the door slamming open. Zoe ran in and took a seat next to Erica.

"Sorry I'm late." She panted, putting down her backpack.

"No problem," Alexander said. My jaw hung open, shocked. Even though Zoe had been with us on missions before, she had never been officially apart of one.

"You're here too?" I asked her.

"Yeah, pretty cool eh? Received an email today and, well, here I am." Zoe replied. Cyrus handed a dossier to her. She opened it and sifted through the contents. She then nodded.

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Cyrus asked us. We all nodded. "Ok then, dismissed."

Everyone quickly got out of their seats and went out into the tunnel. Zoe caught up with me as we were leaving.

"Isn't this great!" She exclaimed. "We get to be on another mission!"

"Yeah." I sighed. Following Erica out of the tunnel. I didn't have the same enthusiasm as Zoe. Before, I had nearly died. On all of my missions.

I didn't feel like continuing that legacy, especially going to a foreign country.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked as we exited out of the tunnel system. She had detected the tone in my voice.

"Well, I'm not all that happy about being on yet another mission," I said.

"Another mission?" A voice jumped out of the bushes. Mike.

"Well, not really," I said, trying to desperately cover up my mistake. Yet Mike wasn't buying any of it.

"Dude, you've gotta let me come," Mike said.

"Well, I'm not that sure. And they didn't tell us that we could bring along friends…" I stalled.

"Please?" Mike pleaded. I shook my head. "Can I at least see what flight you're on?"

I showed him my ticket. He nodded and then ran off.

"Well, I better get started on packing," I said.

I started walking back to the dorms, Zoe followed me. The sun was still bright outside, as it was only 4:00. I decided to try out the new sunglasses. I jumped back immediately when I saw them. It showed the word: scanning. Then the words faded and were replaced by two video feeds on at the top left of the screen, on in a bag. Labeled at the top Zoe. And the other showing Erica brewing a poison. The center was clear. I maneuvered my eyes to the exit "button", scanning them, The sunglasses turned back into functioning like, well, normal sunglasses.

"Wow," I said, turning to Zoe.

"What's up the with sunglasses? They're just sunglasses, right?" Zoe asked me.

"Just put them on," I said. She searched through her bag and found them, she then put them on and had the same surprise as me.

"Wow! The CIA's really improving on their tech." Zoe said. I nodded. We entered the dorms.

"Well, I've gotta pack," I said, slipping into my room. I quickly threw my shorts and t-shirts in my suitcase, as well as my phone charges and an array of weapons I barely knew how to use. Finding that I had finished much sooner than I had expected, I decided to try and see what else I could do with the sunglasses. I put them on, then tried to move my eyes to the options menu. It had one feature on it. I turned it on and then decided to take a walk through the school. A student walked past me, looking at her, I found that the glasses gave me all that the CIA knew about her.

I took the glasses off, then decided that I would need some sleep before the mission began. I walked back to my room and closed my eyes.

-line break-

I was awoken to Erica shaking my shoulders.

"Come on, wake up already." She said. I sat up and looked at my clock. 3:00. We weren't supposed to go to the airport until 5:00. And the plane wouldn't even leave until 7:00.

"Why," I asked, "Are you waking me up so early?"

"Plans changed, Plane's leaving at 5:00," She said in her standard icy tone. "I even texted you about it."

I took a look at my phone, and sure enough, at 2:00 in the morning, she texted me about the flight change.

"Listen, not everyone is awake at 2:00 am." I began, yet Erica cut me off.

"No time for excuses, get your stuff, we're moving out." She said. I followed her through the school and spotted a cab waiting for us. I put my stuff in the trunk and got in. Erica took the front seat, and Zoe sat next to me.

It took us only a half hour to get to the airport, once we were there, we quickly checked in and went through airport security. As there were no lines, it went extremely fast. Soon we were on the plane, flying to Beijing China.