The small, dark room was quiet - save for the soft snoring of its only occupant, who was sleeping soundly in an equally small bed. A computer set up in another corner of the room turned on, its flashing screen bathing the room in an unearthly blue-white glow. The room's occupant remained in its slumbering state, unaware of everything around it.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
An obnoxious beeping noise filled the room. The soft snoring stopped, but there was no further signs of the occupant waking up. The computer screen stopped flashing to reveal an office with large bookcases running along the back wall; an old wooden desk strewn with papers, pens, and maps was in the forefront of the screen. A man with shaggy blonde hair - and the biggest set of eyebrows that you'll ever see in your life - was sitting at the desk, and he did not look pleased.
"Agent America, we have a new and very important mission for you," the man said in an annoyed voice; he had a British accent that was very 007 sounding. Silence answered the man. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Amelia, I know that you're awake, you yank. You've stopped snoring."
"Hey! I don't snore!" an offended American voice sounded from beneath the bed sheets. A young woman with short, sandy blonde hair rolled out of the bed and stomped over to the computer; she grabbed a pair of glasses that were laying next to the keyboard and put them on as she plopped herself down in the chair in front of the computer, glaring at the screen. "I hate that you can turn on my computer whenever you feel like it, Iggy. It's so not cool. I should really bring it up to the boss man when I get a chance...," she muttered, folding her arms across her chest.
"It's The Foundation's computer, not yours, you twit. And don't call me Iggy! It's either Arthur or agent England. No other little nicknames, understood?" Arthur growled, massaging his temples with his hands. It was much too early in the morning to be dealing with this brat. "Are you going to shut up so that I can brief you on your bloody mission or not?"
"Yeah, yeah; go ahead, agent England." Amelia waved a hand at the man, her tone noncommittal.
"How long have you been in The Foundation?" Arthur asked in a serious voice.
Amelia frowned at the rather random question. Why would he ask her that? Besides it being totally out of no where, he could just look in her files. "Um...it'll be my tenth year in July...Why?" Amelia voiced her confusion.
"Ah, yes...Of course. So you were ten when you started your training...," Arthur said softly to himself. "Have you ever heard of agent Russia?" He completely ignored Amelia's question.
Amelia slumped back in her seat, thinking. Agent Russia...Russia, hmm. She knew that she had heard - from agent China, she thought - that he was the best agent that The Foundation had ever produced, but that he had disappeared a few years ago. That was in her fifth year of training. Amelia had only ever heard people describe him, she'd never actually seen the guy. Although, a memory was tugging at the edges of her mind...Gah, what was it?! She made a frustrated cry and slammed her head onto the table that the computer rested on, making Arthur jump. Amelia hated not being able to remember something.
"Are you alright, Amelia?" the Brit's concerned voice brought Amelia back to reality.
"Oh, yeah...Yeah! Totally fine, Iggy, totally fine." She perked up instantly. "I've only heard some rumors...nothing concrete. Does this have something to do with my mission?" she asked, giving the man an intrigued look.
Arthur frowned. "I thought not. By the time you would have been able to ask anything about him or his files, everything had been stricken from our database. The Foundation made him disappear virtually - even the older records that were on paper are gone. It's as though the man never existed in the first place," he sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.
That was odd. An agent's records are only destroyed when they've died or gone rogue. If this was a new mission, then agent Russia wasn't dead. It would be pointless to investigate a dead man, and The Foundation didn't make stupid moves like that. So, agent Russia must have gone rogue all those years ago. But why was he so important to The Foundation?
"About nine years ago, when you were in your second year of training, agent Russia went rogue. It was completely unexpected by The Foundation. He had been our best agent for a good time, having been with The Foundation ever since he was born. He had no contact with the outside world other than his missions. He killed another agent and wounded a good dozen others before disappearing. We've been searching for him ever since then, but have been unable to track him down. That is, until several hours ago. Agent France came across some unexpected intel while on another mission that was completely unrelated. We believe that agent Russia has been working in a weapons smuggling ring as their personal assassin. One of the weapons dealers let slip about this assassin, who was only referred to as The Russian, and told agent France where to find him. Now, normally, we wouldn't act on such trivial and, frankly, unreliable intel, but this dealer mentioned something else of interest. This man had amethyst colored eyes...That is not a feature that you just come by. This is our only connection between the two, and we must act on this possible chance that it is agent Russia." Arthur paused for a moment to take a sip of his tea.
Amelia took this chance to get in a question. "Hey, do you mind me asking why this guy is so important?"
Arthur's emerald green eyes flashed up at her face before he closed them. "I...I'm not quite sure if I should be telling you this or not, but...," he murmured, lowering the tea-cup back onto its dish, "Agent Russia was...an experiment of sorts, you could say. The Foundation wanted to create the perfect human weapon, to be blunt. He was taught how to handle weapons of all kinds, how to fight in any situation, and all forms of torture possible at a very young age; he was also taught every language that he would ever need to use for missions. He was never allowed to show any kind of emotion, so as not to compromise any of his assignments. He was to be an agent that followed orders exactly, never questioning them and always carrying out the mission...no matter what. It was of no concern how many other agents were killed in the process of this sick experiment...only that agent Russia performed as he was expected to. And he did...until something set him off." Arthur opened his eyes again, fussing with the tea-cup and dish on his desk.
Amelia stood up and stretched, going over to her dresser and taking out all the things that she would need for this mission. Something told her that she was going need a lot of fire power on this one, if what she was hearing was anything to go by.
Arthur seemed bewildered by her calm attitude about the whole situation. Had she been dozing off while he was talking? "Amelia, you do know what this mission is, right?" he asked, concern for the young woman obvious on his face. He had known the American for a while, and had taken on the role of elder brother, at least in his eyes. This mission was, more or less, a death sentence.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, Iggy. Everything'll work out. I'm the hero, remember?" Amelia stopped in her packing to flash the man a reassuring smile. "This guy may have been the best before, but I'm totally The Foundation's best right now." She winked at the Brit mischievously.
"Amelia, be serious about this! This man will have no qualms about killing you in the most brutally painful way that he can think of - and he knows many ways to do that! I can't let you-"
"Arthur...c'mon, I can do this. I'm not a little kid anymore," Amelia interrupted him quietly, stopping the ranting Brit in his tracks. She shouldered her old duffel bag and faced the computer screen again, a determined glint in her sapphire blue eyes.
Arthur sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get the stubborn American to pass up the dangerous mission. "Alright...alright...I don't like it, but I can see that you won't decline the mission." The caring look on his face was quickly replaced with a serious, stoney expression. "Agent America, you are to travel to New York city and retrieve the rogue agent Russia. Our intel doesn't have a pinpoint location on him, so you'll have to do some digging. Agent France can get you into contact with the weapons smugglers; press them for information on The Russian. He is believed to be highly dangerous, and should be approached with the utmost of caution. You may use force, but not of lethal intent. We want him alive. Do you understand, agent America?" Arthur finished up the briefing.
"Yes, I do. Bring the rogue asset back alive. Got it. I'm all set...I'll be heading out now, 'kay?" Amelia replied, giving the man a salute and a smile before turning the computer off. She took one moment to breathe deeply and then headed out the door, locking it shut behind her.
