I dislike this chapter, but you might not. At least two more have joined the Project Rush team! Silver lining! XD
"We're here, men."
James peeked out the window of the car. The Palmwoods Hospital stood tall in front of him. He turned to glance at Kendall, who was currently buttoning up his blazer. James could see a knife attached to the inside of it. James had been stuffed into relatively formal clothing too, and wondered why. "Are we meant to be like, spies or something?" he asked Kendall.
"If you wanna call it that. We can't just barge in and yell 'Come with us and save the universe!' We need subtlety." Kendall looked up and smiled at the driver. "Thanks, Steve. We'll be out soon enough."
They got out of the car and walked into the hospital reception. "Have you ever worked with The Surgeon before?" James hissed under his breath.
"I've met him once, but considering we don't work in the same division, of sorts . . . I work with spies, not superheroes."
"Oh." James didn't really know what to say. He looked at the massive round reception desk. There were at least three receptionists there. He was surprised to see Kendall walk straight up to a geeky-looking male one, but followed him quickly.
"Hiya," Kendall chirped at him, sounding so different that James could only gawp at him. "We're here to see Dr Logan Mitchell? Can you tell me where his office is?"
The man looked up at him, cheeks turning pink at the attention. "Um, do you have an appointment with him?"
"Yeah, of course!" Kendall replied. "But it's personal, it might not be in records. Of you have them, I dunno. I've been here a couple times before, don't you remember me?" Damn, the way his lips pouted and his eyes got all big and sparkly . . . he was an expert at this.
"Um, n-no," the receptionist stuttered. "I-I haven't worked here very long . . ."
"Oh, I see. I guess that explains it. I'm sure I'd remember you." Kendall winked at him with a sweet smile and a giggle. "So, can we go see Logan now? I don't mean to bother you or anything but it is kind of important . . ."
"Of c-course!" the receptionist replied immediately, giving him a big smile. "Second floor, you go down the hall and it's the third office on your left. His name's on the door and all."
"Thank you!" Kendall replied with a grin, before taking James by the arm and leading him away, giving the man a flirty wave as they walked towards the elevators.
"Wow," James whistled as the doors slid shut. They were the only two there, and as soon as the doors closed Kendall's sugar-sweet smile vanished. "You are one manipulative blondie, aren't you?"
Kendall shrugged. "You have to be to get your way. You know half of us in the Agency could win an Oscar if we wanted to. We need to be able for this, or we're not much use at all."
They left the elevator and walked down the hallway, towards the office that said 'Dr Logan Mitchell, Diagnostics Unit' on it.
Kendall knocked briskly on the door.
"Come in!" came the call from the other side.
Kendall and James walked inside. Dr Logan Mitchell was sitting at his desk, examining some files and making notes. He looked up and frowned. "Do . . . do I know you?"
"Not me," James replied as he closed the door firmly behind them. "At least, not without my bandanas."
"You know me," Kendall added before Logan could say anything. He pulled an ID out of his blazer pocket. "Agent Kendall Knight, CIA."
"Oh yeah! You're . . ." Logan lowered his voice slightly. "You're Slapshot, right?"
"That's me. So listen." Kendall sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk, James sitting in the one next to him. "Gustavo Rocque sent us here."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"We don't have all that information yet. But what we know is that the CIA want a team put together to fight for them, and you're in the list of desirables."
"So, are you in?" James added.
Logan frowned at them, a battle clearly going on behind his big brown eyes. He glanced down at the desk. "I have my work here," he said softly. "Being a doctor is everything to me. I can't just leave for a few weeks, what if I lose my job?"
"I'll have someone come in tomorrow and take care of it, give an excuse to your boss," Kendall replied immediately.
"But, I—"
"Come on, Logan." James had never heard Kendall speak like this; it wasn't obnoxious, or flirty or even friendly. It was just gentle. "I swear, it'll be fine. But we really, really need you on the team. Otherwise Gustavo wouldn't have picked you."
"I don't know . . ."
"I promise when you come back here, you'll have your job."
"How do I know I'll be coming back?"
The question caught James and Kendall off guard. Logan's eyes blazed. "How do I know how dangerous this 'enemy' is, how do I know I'll be getting out of this alive?"
There was silence for a second. Then Kendall reached out a hand and placed it on top of Logan's squeezing it gently. "Logan, I promise you'll come back. I'll make sure you do." He looked Logan directly in the eye. "When I make a promise, I never break it. Ever."
James could see the desperation in Kendall's eyes, and he knew Logan probably could too. Because he nodded. "Ok."
"Great!" Kendall hopped up, back to his old self. "There's a car waiting for us outside."
Logan grabbed a notepad and scribbled down a quick note, leaving it on he desk. He picked up his jacket. "Ok, I'm ready. Let's get going."
They left Logan's office and walked back to the elevator, James pushing the button quickly. "Don't draw any attention to yourself," Kendall instructed Logan as they stepped inside and the doors slid shut. "No dramatic goodbyes, no yelling, no waving, no nothing. Got it?"
"Jeez," James whistled. "Go easy on him, he's worried about losing his job."
"Shut up!" Kendall snapped. "This is business."
Then the elevator opened and Kendall's expression once again changed dramatically. Back to that sweetie pie look that James was seriously confused by. They walked through reception, and as they were passing the desk a voice—slightly more confident this time—called them. "Hey!"
They turned around to see the secretary smiling at them, still looking a little nervous. He was looking right at Kendall, cheeks pink again. "M-maybe I'll see you around? When you come back here?"
Kendall shrugged, giving him an adorable grin. "Maybe." He gave a little wink before turning and making his way towards the door.
James watched him, sighing. Logan walked up behind him, smirking. "Well, you picked a good one."
James turned to stare at him. "Huh?" He prayed he wasn't blushing.
"Tough to catch, though," Logan continued, still grinning. "I bid you good luck. You'll probably need it."
Carlos Garcia aka Latin Thunder, owned a massive corporate business, though he didn't do much work for it. He mostly sat in his office and gave instructions. And of course, saved the city of Orlando from mass destruction. As James thought about it, he realised that Carlos was the only one of the six Gustavo wanted that was famous, and known by both his names. So he was pretty famous and popular around here. There were action figures, posters, even lunch boxes of Latin Thunder. And Carlos probably adored every second of it. How could he not?
"Ok, this is it." Kendall led them down to the street to the massive, tall glass building. "So, let's go over the plan again."
"Do not threaten any form of violence or force!" Logan chirped, obviously proud now to be part of this.
"Great!"
"It seems a very short plan," James pointed out, chuckling.
Kendall shrugged. "I don't really make plans often. I normally work alone. And when I'm in a group I'm usually telling people what to do."
"Well then!" James smirked, looking at Logan with a chuckle. "Guess we know where we stand, right?"
Logan laughed. "We sure do!"
Kendall sighed. James smirked.
Then Kendall smirked too, and James worried.
"Here, James," Kendall said sweetly. "I'll let you take care of this one yourself. We'll see just how cut out you are for spy work."
"But what if I do something wrong?" James asked, panicked as Kendall pushed him towards the doors. "Then won't everything be ruined?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, babe. Now, the important thing is to act calm."
James was anything but calm, though he couldn't help smirking. "You called me babe."
"It's an affectionate term, James!" Kendall sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, so you feel affectionate towards me?" James asked, chuckling.
"I won't for long! Now shut up and do your job!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"James grinned as they walked inside the doors. Though now he wasn't feeling so smug. What if he totally messed this up?
Well, too late to back out. A woman in a fancy pantsuit was already walking over to them. "Good afternoon, can I help you?"
"We're here to see Carlos," James said matter-of-factly. "It's CIA business."
"Oh yeah?" Her eyebrows rose. "Who sent you here?"
"Gustavo Rocque," James replied, keeping firm eye contact with her.
"Hmm. Never heard of him. And anyway, any agent looking to speak with Mr Garcia would've contacted me first," she said, a little smugly.
Shit. James panicked.
"She's bluffing."
James turned to see Kendall turn from him to the woman. He showed her his ID. "Look, I'm only gonna say this once. You can let us in to see Carlos now, or we'll come back with a whole squad of CIA agents, armed with guns and all, and we'll escort him out of here by force. You could save us all these complications by letting us into his office. What's it gonna be?"
The woman looked very annoyed, which James resisted the urge to smile at. "Fine. Follow me."
She turned and walked down the hallway. As Kendall, James and Logan followed her, James could swear he saw Kendall wink at him. "How did I do?" he whispered.
"Pretty good for a first try," Kendall replied with a smirk. "I guess I can teach you."
"What happened to the plan?" Logan demanded, also in a whisper.
"Well, I didn't think we would have to forget about that. Only, we did."
The woman stopped and knocked on the large wooden doors, before opening them. "Mr Garcia," she called. "I have some visitors to see you."
"I'm busy, Stephanie," came the reply.
"They're from the CIA!" Stephanie added. "It's important! Apparently . . ."
"Oh, fine! Send them in!"
Stephanie moved aside to let them walk in, and they did, first Kendall, then James, then Logan. They all stopped in surprise to see Gustavo Rocque sitting in the chair in front of Carlos's desk. "Gustavo!" Logan exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"That's Mr Rocque to you, dog," Gustavo snapped. Then his expression changed as he beamed at Kendall. "Hello, Kendall," he greeted fondly. And with a touch too much enthusiasm. "Nice to see you."
"Nice to see you too, sir," Kendall grinned, waving at him and smiling sweetly. James glared.
"So, what are you doing here?" he asked accusingly.
"Oh, I figured Carlos might take a little convincing. Plus you were taking so long with The Surgeon, I decided to just come here myself!"
"We did have to travel from New York, you know," James snapped, but Kendall lifted a hand up to quieten him down.
"He's right, James. The less time we take, the better. It won't happen again, boss."
Gustavo grinned. "Knew I could count on you."
"So, anyway!" Carlos spoke up for the first time. He was looking right at James and seemed to sense his annoyance. "I say we make a move right away. Mila Stark is next, am I right?"
"Nah, don't worry about her," Kendall smiled. "I'll give her a call, she can meet us at Empath's place. Where does she live again? You've got the documents, haven't you?"
Then James realised Kendall was talking to him. "Oh yeah, I do! We'll take a look. I think she lives in Minneapolis, though."
"Minnesota?" Kendall was frowning, looking at the floor. James didn't get why.
"I don't get why you didn't go for her before me," Logan said, staring at James with raised eyebrows.
James smiled sheepishly. "Um, neither do I. You were next on the list . . .?"
Kendall started smiling again, looking back up at James. "You've still got a bit to learn." He turned to Gustavo. "I guess we should get going?"
"Yeah, go. Thing is, lately there's been some strange activity going on in Minnesota. Suspicious stuff, you know the sort. Go geared up, got it? We'll send you there in a helicopter, just on the outskirts of the city, and then you can drive in. Got it?"
"Got it," the four voices chorused.
Omg, this chapter is awful. I really hate it. DX but there will be improvement! There's gonna be some action and stuff, and Camille and Kelly (Mila, Empath) will be in it! Please review!
