Chapter 1
A gunshot rang out from somewhere in the building as the comm piece in my ear went from static to dead. I cursed, throwing away all hope of holding my position; if it hadn't been compromised already. Like one of those dumb people who always die first in the movies, I ran toward the noise, instead of away from it. Except I had no intention of dying.
As I ran, I thought about what I knew on the current situation. First, someone with authority must have been taken out, if the comm units were down and it was taking this long to get them back up. Second, all our guns had CIA standard-issue or higher silencers on them. Yes they were illegal, but technically, we didn't exist, so there were no rules against it. That meant there was at least one enemy gun in range of someone important. And our enemy was firing at our operatives. Not good. Lastly, the fact that our enemy got near us at all meant one of two things: either a guard patrol took our team by surprse, or we were being watched. Neither of which should have happened.
I heard commotion as I approached where our A-Team was supposed to be stationed. Keeping my gun level, I crept to the corner of the hallway and counted to three before I turned. The bright white walls of the corporate building were splashed with the blood of its workers. Our A-Team had done their job well, only three members of the original force remained. I noticed a few of the C-Team operatives had arrived, too. Before I could relax, though, I saw one of the patrol sneak up behind Kairi and point his gun straight at her back. I fired, and watched as his body collapsed to the ground, blood pooling around his head.
I looked around, only to find the other two lying on the ground with the rest of their companions; red liquid streaming out of one or more wounds.
"Fall back! RTC!" a man's voice shouted in my ear as I realized our comms were back online.
"B-Team to Sector One, then RTC!: Another voice shouted across the channel as the head of our third party regrouped his operatives.
Our commander called over the comms again, "Omega UniT Follow the nearest team out and RTC!" That meant me.
I glanced around, and found Grav, our leader of the A-Team gathering his group and the scattered members of C-Team. I ran over to the cluster of people, on guard for any more patrol men. When he saw me, he gave a nod, "Omega," and finished his orders for the C operatives to stick with our new team.
A quick sweep of the hallway revealed no new opponents, and we made our way to the stairwell reserved specifically for fires. Grav didn't care. Having one of our members disconnect the alarm before entry, we crept into the dark passage. Backed up against the guardrail, I peered into the depths below. A dim yellow glow illuminated every floor, from what I assumed was an incandescent light bulb.
When I glanced up, our reformed team had already begun its descent. Like standard protocol, we were proceeding down the staircase in pairs. I partnered with Kairi and followed the team down the five floors to the bottom. Reaching the main level, we approached the lobby, only to find it deserted. Seeing this, we retreated as fast as we could in case someone appeared and saw us.
Outside, we ran to our assigned cars. When I opened the door of the 2004 black Mercury LeSabre I was supposed to be riding in, I found that both the B and the rest of the C-Team had made it back safely. I had no idea how the rest of the Omega Unit had fared, none of them were in the car. Hopping in the backseat, I gave our driver the cue to pull out, as I was last in the car. I felt the vehicle lurch forward as I stashed my gun and silencer in and under the seat before sitting and buckling myself in.
Fifty-six minutes later, our car pulled in front of a music store. I took my key out of my pocket and entered through the back. Stepping into the break room, I went to the row of lockers on the east wall. I moved to the third one to the left and entered the combination to open it. On the right of the inside, I removed the false panel that covered the hand scanner. As I pressed my palm to the cool glass, I watched as the next two lockers to the right opened to reveal a dark tunnel. I slammed the locker shut and stepped into the black.
I heard the hydraulic "whoosh" of a piston closing the steel door behind me. As I stood, engulfed by total darkness, a row of blue LED's lit up on either side of me, leading a path to the center of our base, what I considered my home.
Random red and green lights glowed beside me, appearing to glow in midair. On occasion, I saw a suspended number as I passed row after row of servers, behind thick Plexiglas panes. The rooms on either side of me ran the entire underground base of operations. I couldn't hear the humming from the outside of the soundproof rooms, but I knew on the inside, those rooms sounded like an angry beehive.
At the end of the tunnel, I reached another scanner. This one was a retinal scanner, if the handprint scanner wasn't enough to keep someone out already. I leaned down and stuck my face near it, and waited as a red laser ran around my eye. After a second or two, a light above the scanner lit up green, and an, "Access Confirmed. Welcome, Agent Targa," appeared on screen. The doors next to the scanner split, and I walked into the elevator. I pressed the "M" for Main Level and waited until, with a ding, the doors opened again and I stepped into a room filled with people.
"CASTLE" glowed on most of the screens. Others had world maps, MIA agents, loose targets, even a tip of the day. Castle had three floors; technically four if ground-level elevator entry was counted. The first and shallowest level was the living quarters. Agents who hadn't been provided with surface-level living quarters by the CIA stayed here. There's a cafeteria open twenty-four seven, a lounge, game room, and small library. Lower level two was the Main Level. The database computers, artillery storeroom, and confinement cells were located here. Lower level three was base headquarters. The higher-ups and Team Leaders spent most of their time down there. Most agents were never allowed down there unless by command. Little did I know, it was the next place I was headed.
Before I could talk to anybody in the computer room, an announcement came over the loudspeaker, "Omega Unit, report to HQ immediately!" I frowned, that was never good, to be summoned to see the higher-ups directly after a mission was practically an execution order. Hopping back on the elevator I just left, I pressed the "HQ" button and took a deep breath. When the doors opened, I found the secretary, Namine, waiting for me.
"Welcome Agent Targa, we've been expecting you. Please, follow me." I did as told, and after a few twists and turns, I was in front of a solid wood door. "Go on in," she smiled reassuringly.
"Thanks," I replied, before going inside. The door I opened led to the waiting room, where I found three of the unit's members inside. I took a seat next to Sora. He glanced up and gave me a small smile. After another minute, the door clicked open as our fifth and final member, Mimi, entered. I signaled for her to sit beside me. She accepted, and brushed her long black hair behind her ear.
The next ten minutes passed in silence, until the three commanders walked out of our boss's office with sullen faces. As we passed, Grav whispered in my ear, "He's feeling very stabby today. Be careful." I grimaced. When the boss was swearing, that was a good mood. Stabby wasn't exactly a mood I was eccentric to confront. Very stabby was going to be hell.
The expression on his face was exactly a welcoming greeting, either. He raised one eyebrow as we lined up in front of him. "What the hell happened out there today? Why did the guards surprise A-Team? Weren't you supposed to do reconnaissance?"
"That wasn't our department," Sora replied calmly, "The B-Team handled recon for this mission."
Our boss tried to sigh, but it came out as an irritated snort. He ran one hand through his thin, mouse brown hair, and tapped the fingers of the other on the desk angrily. "You may not have been the cause of failure, but I still don't understand. What the hell happened? Did we retrieve anything! Targa! Answer me!"
My head snapped up as I responded, "I'm not entirely sure. I heard shots fired, then ran to assist A-Team. When I arrived, most of the security personnel had been taken out. I killed one, then RTC'd with the rest of the team, and a few C-Team agents who had joined us. That is all."
A muttered, "God dammit," came from the man at the desk. I wasn't sure how he'd been able to keep his eyes on me and write his report at the same time, but somehow, he had. "And you," his gaze turned, "Michelle Padlich, what was happening at your end?"
Mimi flinched. She hated being called by her full first name, but she pulled herself together enough to respond. "Riku and I were within retrieval distance of the safe, but we left before we could gain anything, due to the sudden withdrawal order," her dark brown eyes showed no emotion as she spoke.
Riku gave a slight nod, "Mr. Koehler, sir. I can confirm what Agent Padlich says is accurate."
He ran another, frustrated hand through his hair, and that's when I realized Andrew Koehler had the most fantastical widow's peak ever. "All right. You're the only one left, Zac. You better have a pretty damn good excuse if you don't know why this operation went down!"
The tallest person in our lineup didn't flinch, he didn't sigh, he just stated, "I was hacking into their mainframe, disabling security around the objective before we got jumped."
Mr. Koehler threw his hands into the air and let out an exasperated groan, "I give up! It must have been a fluke! Dismissed!"
The moment I left the office, I let out a sigh. "Thank God that's over!"
Sora ran a hand through his spiky brown hair, "No shit!"
"Although, Koehler seemed in a relatively good mood compared to some other incidents," added Riku. I bit my lip. He was right; even though our boss had been in a foul mood, I'd seen him worse. When we exited the waiting room, Namine was already there, waiting for us. Her light blond hair reflected even in the dim light of the hallway. She offered a small smile as she led us back to the elevator, laughing along as Zac and Sora made jokes about Mr. Koehler.
Once inside the elevator, I realized Mimi hadn't said a word since the office. "Hey," I nudged her with my elbow, "you're awfully quiet."
Her gaze was cast downward, expressionless. At her sides, her hands balled into fists. When she spoke, her words were laced with venom, "He called me by my full first name." She looked up at me, her eyes full of fire, "Do you know how much I hate it when people call me that?"
But before I could respond, there was a growl from the other side of the elevator. Zac smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, guys. I'm kind of hungry…who wants to stop at the cafeteria?" We laughed and agreed we were all craving something to eat, so when the elevator doors opened, we headed straight to the cafeteria.
We sat together at a table, the place unoccupied except for us. I was looking over my menu when Riku leaned over and asked, "Hey Roxas, what are you getting?"
I shrugged, "I still have no idea."
"Salmon's in season! Try that with the garlic!" Mimi suggested from across the table.
I laughed, "Thanks, that sounds really good!" I turned to the white-haired young man next to me. "That's what I'm having. The salmon with garlic butter."
Riku punched me in the arm, "I heard you the first time, dumbass."
"Oh! We're calling Roxas names now? I want in!" Zac taunted from my other side, his brown eyes gleaming.
"Shut the hell up," I replied jokingly, rubbing my arm. The bad thing about having CIA friends was that when they hit, they hit hard.
Our waitress came and took our orders, and we spent the time waiting for our food discussing our unsuccessful mission. As we had explained to Andrew, the guards had surprised us before we could gain any information, or even the objective for that matter. Whatever was in that safe was still in there, for now. Our meal came and went, none of us paying, as it was for all operatives who lived "inside." we went to our specific hallway, and split into our individual rooms after saying goodnight.
I turned down the thermostat; my room felt slightly muggy, and my attire didn't help much. I went into my bathroom and shut the door. Turning on the shower, I hoped that my room would be an idea temperature when I was done. I began peeling off my black clothes, undoing the buckles on my bulletproof vest, and removing the weapons attached to the clothes and various parts of my body. Once stripped, I stepped into the warm, cascading water. The heat felt nice on my tense muscles. I relaxed my shoulders and watched beads of water trail down my naked body. There were red imprints across my torso from my vest, but I didn't care. They would fade by the morning.
After a few minutes of steamy bliss, I grabbed the shampoo and washed my hair, scrubbed my face, then put a small amount of conditioner in, and rinsed it out. It prevented my hair from becoming a frizzy mess. When I stepped into my bedroom, the air conditioner had done its job; the room was a cool contrast to the bathroom.
I dug through my drawers until I found some sweatpants and a t-shirt, and threw those on. Scrubbing my blond hair with the towel until it was almost dry made me thirsty, so I grabbed a glass of water, took a sip, and set the cup on the nightstand next to me. After shutting off the lights, I flopped onto the bed, putting my hands behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling. I glanced at the clock, it was almost three in the morning. I hoped I wouldn't have to wake up early, maybe I'd be luck and at least sleep past eight. I sighed and switched my gaze back to the ceiling above me. I don't know how many minutes passed before I fell asleep, but it didn't seem to take long at all.
Well, what do you think? I'm not even sure what to think! Please R&R! It's my first of it's kind, so I hope it turns out well. And yes, this one will be long. VERY long. Oh, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have on the characters!