A/N: Dear Wonderful Readers, as always, many thanks to those who reviewed! I love the positive remarks (but I'm open to any constructive criticism)! Keep 'em coming! Oh, and one of my reviewers asked me what happened to Sabina. Turns out I forgot (gasp!) to mention that in the A/N for my first chapter. In this fanfic of mine, there is no Sabina (or Tom for that matter). Beth is Alex's only real friend who will come up in my story. Does that clear up anyone's question? Anyhow, enjoy chapter three! R&R!

Disclaimer: None of AR or DP is mine!

OLYMPIC DEATH

Chapter Two

Mr. Smithers

"Beth," began Alex as the pair walked back to the elevator they had originally taken to the fifteenth floor. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this. I feel terrible." He avoided looking at her face as he pushed the 'down' button for the elevator.

She shook her head in dismay. "It wasn't your fault," replied Beth earnestly. "M16 most likely had this whole thing planned from the get go. There was nothing either of us could do."

The doors opened and both stepped inside. Alex pressed the circle labeled 'B' for basement. His friend continued, attempting to wipe away the dread that was building inside her. "But, just think," she tried to add with enthusiasm. "We'll get to spend lots of time together. Who knows, maybe it will be… fun. It seems like we haven't done anything together in ages."

Only now did Alex meet her gaze. "I don't know what kind of adventure you think we're getting into, but I'll tell you this now, the last thing it will be is fun. And personally, I just wish you would let me do things on my own when we're there. You can stay behind with Ms. Chung-hoo, and leave me to my business."

"Alex, we're both in this together--"

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

Beth rolled her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl now. I think I can take care of myself."

Alex grumbled to himself. Sometimes he hated her pig-headedness. The doors slid back open when the elevator had reached its destination. "Follow me." He led their way down an artificially lit hallway and turned left. A door awaited them there; it was simply labeled 'Smithers'. Alex alerted Smithers that he had visitors by knocking, then automatically the door swung open.

After Beth stepped through the door, she realized no one had opened it, and figured it had to run on a highly sophisticated hydraulics system. She looked around the room. There was a picture framed on one wall, a leather couch lining another, and a desk facing the door. And sitting behind that desk was one of the largest men Beth had ever seen. It looked as if he had fat rolling out from every part of his body, had at least four chins, and appeared to have no neck what so ever.

"Alex, my boy!" the man behind the desk beamed.

"Smithers, hello! How've you been?" Alex questioned. He had at least one friend at M16.

"Very well, thank you. And you must be Beth," Smither's said to the only girl in the room.

"Last time I checked," she giggled. She could tell already Mr. Smithers was very much unlike the other people at M16 she had met that day. He seemed more human, more friendly.

"This has been a very exciting opportunity for me, Beth. You see I've never had to create any gadgets for a young lady. But, unfortunately, Blunt briefed me that neither of you really need any for this assignment besides ones for communication, which will be relatively normal devices. Still, I just couldn't help myself, so you'll each get a little something special; plus the communication devices have been, how should I say it? Tweaked a bit." The plump man winked at the two teenagers. "Let's just keep this between friends, alright?" Beth and Alex nodded in unison, pleased.

"First, I'll start with your cell phones." Smithers managed to squeeze himself out of his office chair, and waddled over to a metal safe stashed in the corner of the room. He bent over slightly as he put a combination into the lock. After the safe registered that the code was indeed correct, the M16 employee opened the door and took out a stainless steel box and carried it back over to his desk. Once back at his desk, Smithers squished himself back into his chair. It was then he seemed to realize that his guests were still standing. "Oh, forgive me. Have a seat." Alex and Beth sat down in two office chairs almost identical to the one Smithers was seated in, only these were noticeably smaller.

Smithers easily lifted the lid off the box and lifted out two small phones. He smiled boyishly as he cradled one in each of his gargantuan hands. "These are your one of a kind, state of the art, Motorola RAZR flip phones. You could say these are a limited edition. They work just as any other Mobil phone would. With it you can call any where in the world, but try not to use the text messaging feature often. It really jacks up the price of the bill." He flashed another grin at the two seated across from him, and handed the charcoal black one to Alex and hot pink one to Beth.

After receiving the cell, both admired the advanced piece of technology, examining every detail of the phone. "No other Motorola RAZR except these two has an antenna." Alex could already guess what the antenna really was. Once before Smithers had given him a phone similar to this one, only not as attractive in its style. "If the need arises, you can type in the numbers 82737, which happen to spell the word 'TASER', on the number pad and aim the phone at your target. Out of the antenna will shoot a taser which will knock out your enemy for a maximum of thirty minutes." Beth whistled softly out of amazement.

Smithers heard Beth. "Ah, but there's more. Hit the pound button followed by the number 0, drop the phone, and run like mad if you ever need a quick getaway. That code will set off a smoke bomb."

"What does the smoke bomb's code mean?" Beth asked. The code that released the taser speld 'TASER'. Maybe there was a reason Smithers had chosen this specific code for the smoke bomb.

"It means nothing really. I just thought it would be easier than typing 'smoke bomb' into the phone." Then Smithers chuckled lightly. "And if you ever find yourself using that special feature, you owe me a new phone.

"Also, M16 is on speed dial number one for your convenience. But, Alex, do you remember M16's official phone number? We don't want another scenario of Skeleton Key when you lost your phone and didn't know how else to contact us."

"I remember it."

"It would be wise of you to teach it to Beth, too. You'll do that, yes?" Smithers looked expectantly at Alex who nodded his head, then at Beth who did the same. "Alright, now for your surprises…" Smither's reached across his desk and pressed a black button. Instantly, the couch next to the wall split in two and a platform rose out from the floor, carrying a woman in a white lab coat holding an untopped box. After the woman stepped off the platform, she brought the box over to Smithers, and immediately returned to the platform, which sunk back down into the floor, and the couch slide back to normal as if nothing had happened.

Smithers saw that Beth was intrigued by what she had just seen. "You like that?"

"It's pretty neat. How does it work?"

"There isn't enough time to show you today. Maybe another time. Now, Beth, as I said before I've never had the chance to make a gadget for a young woman. So if this is something that doesn't interest you, I apologize." Smithers reached into the box, pulled out an ankle bracelet and held it up into the light. The bracelet had pearls spaced evenly around its sparkling silver chain. He must have known that a pearl was the birth stone for June.

"Are those real?" Beth asked in astonishment. Surly if the pearls were genuine, the ankle bracelet would be worth a great sum of money.

"Goodness, no! This bracelet it a small bomb!"

"Oh…" replied a disappointed Beth.

'Here, look at the clasp. It twists together, see? When you'd like to, untwist the clasp and attach it around your ankle. And if you ever need it, take the bracelet off and twist it back together again--that will activate the bomb. Count to ten and there will be a small explosion. Not enough to kill, but it still may cause injury if you're not careful."

He handed her the bracelet with care. "Thank you," she replied.

"And for you, Alex," Alex perked up when he heard his name, "I have…" the chubby M16 man produced a plastic device out of the box, "an inhaler!"

Alex looked bizarrely at the inhaler for a moment. "Gee, you shouldn't have!" he said with mock surprise, as if he'd just received an extraordinary birthday present. "What does it do?" This time, Alex spoke with curiosity.

"It shoots out pepper spray!" Smithers was obviously very proud of this ingenious idea. "All you need to is put your mouth on here like you would a normal inhaler, and blow hard. As simple as shooting a spit ball!" All of a sudden Smithers appeared to have realized something. "Just make sure you don't accidentally inhale… I'm not sure what would happen. It may just take your breath away!" The threesome laughed.

Alex and Beth knew their visit was coming to a close. "Anyhow, I'm afraid that's all I have for you two today. It was nice meeting you, Beth, and it was good seeing you again, Alex." The teenagers rose from their chairs, and said their thank yous and good byes to Mr. Smithers. "Now, don't go off getting yourselves killed, you hear? I'd hate to have all the new gadgets I've been working on for you both go to waste!"

Alex and Smithers laughed easily, but Beth ran his comment through her head again. Firstly, "don't go off getting yourselves killed" didn't exactly make their assignment sound like a walk in the park as Blunt had said it would be. And secondly, "all the new gadgets I've been working on for you both…" More gadgets? Was she expected to come back here again?

Beth felt that she already knew the answer.

A/N: How'd that go for everyone? Did you like it? Hate it? Tell me, I'm not a psychic! Sorry that this one was a little short. I'll try my best to get chapter four up soon, but I have a feeling that it's gonna a bit of a bore because it will just be Alex and Beth traveling to S. Korea. Nothing special, but I need to write it. But, I promise after that I've got some BIG things planned for "Olympic Death"…. Review please!