Chapter One- Dan vs. Pancakes


"I've been wronged Chris! Horribly wronged!" Dan cried, barraging into Chris's bedroom. Chris, who was still asleep let out a little groan. "Get up Chris!" Dan shouted, shaking his best friend back and forward across the bedroom. "I said get up!" He shoved Chris onto the floor and he woke up with a start.

"What?" he said, sitting up with a start and looking around the room. "Oh hey Dan." he mumbled, scratching his head and then going back to sleep, not even noticing that he was lying on the floor.

"Don't hey me! Put on your clothes, we have a major problem!" Dan growled.

"No, you have a major problem." Chris said still not opening his eyes, "Elise and I were-" he stopped mid-sentence and looked at the other side of the bed. Elise was gone. "Hey, where did she go? She said we were going to see a movie today."

"Who cares!" Dan cried, throwing his arms in the air, "She's gone alright?! She probably left you for that Colby guy."

"She wouldn't do that." Chris insisted, although he didn't sound entire convinced. "Would she?"

"Told you not to get married." Dan said, "Now come on, we have work to do. But first things first, go make me some pancakes."


2 hours ago...

Elise woke up with a start. Her intercom bracelet was beeping quietly. She put her hand over the bracelet in an effort to dampen the sound, then got out of bed and tip-toed into the living room, being careful not to wake her husband. When she got to the living room she plopped down on the couch and pushed a button on the bracelet. "Talk to me." she said, then added, "but keep it down."

"Dancing Shadow we have a situation." a familiar voice said, though it was not the one she had been expecting. "This is Agent Bro-face. Please report to HQ immediately. For your convenience, we are sending a helicopter to your location."

"Roger that." Elise whispered, "As long as its on sheath mode. Dancing Shadow out."


Present

Elise hadn't been to the HQ since she had first joined the agency and even that she only recalled because Eagle's Nest had once told her he had wiped her memory of the event. Eagle's Nest was the mysterious voice behind most of her assignments aka the guy who signed her pay checks. The agency was responsible for eliminating foreign threats. They managed to maintain the cover of the "good guys" but Elise was aware of their shady dealings and even on occasion participated in them herself. The agency was responsible for 90% of weapons used in third world countries and mass produced a secret stash of weapons of mass destruction. With the resources they had at their disposal, they had managed to keep the world's governments and economies under their pinkie finger for more than 40 years.

The agency had been founded by the late and original Eagle's Nest, whose name and identity remained unknown to this day. He had started the agency in the late 1960s as a way to stop the spread of communism. Similar agencies were established at around the same time in Germany and Russia, both to serve the opposite cause. She had even heard rumors of a new branch stationed in the middle east.

Although Elise didn't remember ever meeting Eagle's Nest in person she had spoken to him many times through the intercom, video chat (or rather voice chat), etc and she took the fact that he hadn't called her himself as evidence that something big was going down.

She walked into his office and saluted, "Reporting for duty sir." A familiar face stared back at her. "Agent Broface?" What's going on?" she said suspiciously.

Agent Broface stared at Elise. He was a short man with an overabundant head of hair. His usually serious expression was masked with a second layer of graveness which gave him the overall appearance of a stone statue.

"Eagle's Nest is dead."

"What...?"


"So what's on the menu today?" Chris asked, turning on the stove and digging though the cabinets for a frying pan.

"I already told you pancakes!"

"I meant about revenge."

"Oh that." Dan said, as this toned shifted into rage and his face grew red all of a sudden. "They canceled my show!"

"The Adventures of Population Control Johnny?"

"Yes! And we are going to make them pay somehow! I haven't figure out how yet!" He turned his focus back on pancakes. "Urgh! What's taking so long."

"Hey! I just started." Chris protested.

"Well hurry up!"


"That's not possible." Elise said and laughed a bit.

"Dancing Shadow this is a serious situation." Broface prompted. "Eagle's Nest was found dead of a heart attack at exactly 0400 hours today. At present our top scientists are determining whether or not he may have been murdered. There are many drugs that are able to kill a victim and make it appear as if they died of natural causes."

"Yes, I've heard of them, but...you're...serious?..." Elise murmured. The elusive Eagle's Nest, dead. She could hardly believe her ears. She had just spoken to Eagle's Nest less than a week ago. When he had asked her infiltrate a military base in the middle of the Arabian desert. Part of her still felt that Broface must have been lying. "What can I do?" she said finally.

"Your mission is to find out if he has any next of kin."

"You're really going to hand his agency over to a guy we don't even know?" Elise inquired.

"Yes and no." Broface replied, "Whether he was murdered or not is irrelevant in this situation. The organization needs a new head and Eagle's Nest, being the careful man he was," he said 'careful', but Elise knew that what he meant to say was cynical, or better yet paranoid. A trait that was pretty much as necessity in his line of work. That, and the ability to keep one's lips sealed about certain matters which unfortunately was one of Elise's biggest and only weak points. "left us a will in case he were to be assassinated." He pulled out a slip of paper. "Here's a copy."

As Elise skimmed over the paper, Broface kept talking. "Its not very extensive. It basically states that all his personal belongings shall be divided among his immediate family which includes spouses, siblings and possible descendants. It also says that the agency shall be given to immediate family, only if deemed qualified. Its not very complicated, but the real problem is that we have no idea who his immediate family may be, where they live or even if there are any of them still alive. We would be able to discover those things fairly easily, but unfortunately, we really don't know anything about him. We have made finding his kin our number one priority. Not only because of his will, but because if we find that he was indeed killed-"

"You're afraid that his family might be next. So you want me track them all down so we can take them into custody." Elise finished.

"Yes." Broface nodded. "Him being dead should make it easier for you." He handed her a folder labeled, 'Top Secret!' in big red letters and then in smaller letters 'for clearance level 9+ only'. "This contains a picture of him as well as blood and hair samples so that you may compare DNA with possible suspects." He saluted to her. "Good luck Dancing Shadow."


A/N: Chapter 1 finished! Eagle's Nest is dead and we finally get to find out exactly who he is! Free feel to make guesses and post them in the comments section!