Jackie was pissed. Or as one of the few friends she had who was actually around her age would say; Jackie is ten seconds from obliterating everything within a square kilometer. The last time she had been this mad, someone had tried to run her crew out of their lane during an A final, breaking stroke seats blade, Jackie had thrown her spanner at their Cox, which she complained about for the rest of the regatta, and they came in second place. They would have won by boat lengths if it wasn't for the idiot.
Normally Jackie's solution was to punch the everloving shit out of something, but sparring with a twat named Alex was highly unrecommended, due to both their backgrounds - his she was still mostly unclear on - Brooke had sworn her off sparring with him until they go to know each other. Because that would help with everything. The aforementioned twat had also stolen the one punching bag she liked, and Jackie was relatively sure Maria was in the process of calling in backup, wich would be fantastic, if not for the fact that there was a giant British prat in her living room.
Today was becoming worse and worse, so in an attempt to help her calm down she had invited Lucy around to throw things at her. Not what most people called their friends for on a Friday night, but it was common enough for both of them. A mutual stress relief.
"Aren't you supposed to be dodging these things?" Her friend laughs, earthy brown eyes sparkling at the sight of Jackie being hit for the third time by a ball, normally Lucy counted it a personal victory if she grazed her. "That is why they're called dodge balls right?"
"Har har," Jackie growls out leaping over one before ducking another, missing a third that rebounds off the wall and knocks the wind out of her, earning anther sharp bark of laughter from Lucy. Her friend was standing at one end of the 'court' - a spare space in the bunker the size of a two car garage, next to a basket full of various sized 'dodge' balls, none of which were actual dodgeballs. If it was relatively round and Lucy had a chance of throwing it, it was added to the pile. Jackie was annoyed had put in a bloody medicine ball. And also wondering how the hell she threw it that fast.
"I should be filming this, I swear the last time I saw you this flustered was when G-J told you she had gotten a tattoo. Now that was funny." Lucy said, passing one the from hand to hand before lobbing it at Jackie.
Jackie just shot her a glare and caught the tennis ball, sending like a bullet from a gun back at Lucy, who yelped and hit the floor when it smacked into her shoulder.
"You're lucky I'm calm enough to aim properly," Jackie said, giving her a pointed glare as Lucy stood up and brushed herself off. "a flick of my wrist and you'd have a black eye. Now let's see if you can actually hit me square on."
They spent a few more minutes playing 'dodgeball', before Lucy walked over to the middle of the floor and sat down, patting the ground next to her for Jackie to take a seat. She relented by flopping down next to her, an arm thrown over her face. They sat like that for a few minutes. Each trying to find the words for what they wanted to say.
"Come on, you've burnt off enough energy to not go out looking for some moron to beat up, so spill. What's got you so riled up this fine, fine afternoon?" Underneath the jovial tune, Lucy sounded concerned. And after being Jackies closest friend for the past three years, it took a lot to get her to worry, they both knew it wasn't because she didn't care for her, but constantly worrying about someone who was flinging themselves in the line of danger was only going to drive Lucy mad.
Jackie was tempted to just ignore her, ignore everything going on in her head, ignore the sheer enormity of what was to come, but past experience knew that she would weasel it out anyway. Lucy could make her life highly uncomfortable if she wanted to. There were only so many times someone could deal with finding a swan in their cubby.
"What's the problem." Lucy prodded. Lucy was good at prodding, a fact that annoyed Jackie to no end. World class spy who can withstand various interrogation techniques, spend weeks in the hands of the enemy without saying a thing, but as soon as Lucy gave her that look she was putty in her hands.
There was a long pause between them while Jackie gathered her words, she knew lucy would give her time, so long as she came out and said what was on her mind.
"Do you remember the bombing that happened a while back?" Jackie said with a sigh. The upcoming mission promised to be long, which was annoying given that Jackie had already spent two months gathering intel for it, it officially started in two and a half weeks.
"I'm guessing that has something to do with why you've been busier than usual lately?" Lucy said stretching out on the floor next to her. "And why you're going more batty than you usually do in the lead up to the rowing season starting."
"That's not what I'm getting at." Jackie sighed, running a hand through her short hair. It was long enough that she could put it in a tiny half ponytail now. Too long by her standards, she would have to get it cut soon, maybe she could get one of the girls at rowing to do it.
"So what, a new mission even though all hands are on deck trying to figure out who bombed 'La Bombonera'?" Lucy said interrupting her train of thought. "That sounds more like a tongue twister rather than a terrorist attack." She muttered to herself.
"Well, all spare hands bar mine." Jackie replied
"So you've been busy as a buzzy bee for what reason exactly?"
"They want me for a new mission, you know the Junior Olympics thing coming up?"
"Ooh yes, the thing that has Coach more het up than a rooster in a hen house. Sounds thrilling to me, I've always wanted to go to the Caribbean!"
"Well ASIS and MI6 think that there is something a little off about it. So I'm being sent in with another agent, deep cover." Jackie explained, sitting up to look at Lucy. "Also it's in the Mediterranean."
"Holy shit, MI6 is a thing?" Lucy exclaimed jumping back slightly. "I thought that was just a gimmick Hollywood made up, you know, like Egypt being full of white people." Her friend looked stumped. Jackie allowed herself a grin at that, getting Lucy to be quiet for a change was hard. Impossible really, she was the queen of motor mouths.
"No, MI6 is real. The only other teenage spy in the world works for them. He's a prick."
"Brittish boy upstairs? He's hot." Lucy purred as she propped herself up on her elbow.
"Lucy!"Jackie could honestly say she should have seen that coming. Lucy's pickiness could rival that of a two-year-olds at dinner time. She took nothing other than what she deemed perfection, whether that be her rowing or food or who she wanted to flirt with. Jackie groaned, knowing that the coming months had just become a little harder.
"Oh please its true and you know it. Why don't you walk me through what happened this afternoon?" Lucy said bumping their shoulders together.
"Where do I even begin."
-#-#-
Six hours ago - ASIS HQ - Perth
Jackie was well aware of Alex staring her down while she went into Russel's work room. It irked her to no end, first shoved out of her own meeting, and now the fifth degree from someone who barely had a months experience on her. She was already running through a thousand ways to knock him on his ass, and hopefully down a peg or ten, despite the fact she was under strict instruction to do no such thing. That just meant that she had to be a little more, creative, in her approach.
The door clicked. She could practically feel Alex rolling his eyes behind her as Jackie slipped in, closing it before Alex could get a look inside the room. Russel was known for helping people to 'forget' what they were looking for in his room. Or who and where they were. The only things that slipped in and out were noise and Jackie.
"Oi Russ, I'm here for the new toys you've made me." She called out into the cavernous space. It was almost empty at the moment, the majority of Russ's helpers clocked out over the weekends so only three were left to keep running tests on various gadgets that the department was working on. In a far corner, she saw a woman dive behind a heat shield as one of her tests exploded.
"Hello, there misfit, be with you in one minute." Said Russ from where he was flat on his back tinkering with the underside of a rusty Ute. Jackie walked closer till she could actually see his neon pink overalled legs sticking out from the Ute. She always wondered how he could tell it was her, or that the door had even opened what with the cacophony of sounds made by tools and machines going on, as well as the loud orchestral music pouring out of a few sub-woofers.
"Yeah well some of us have crap to get done, so could you hurry it up on the cruddy old rust bucket?" She said giving his leg a small kick.
Russ rolled out and pouted at her, frowning up at the young spy through his shaggy blond hair, and poked his tongue out at her. Jackie could have sworn that he had a thousand more freckles than the last time she saw him two weeks ago, despite the fact he spent most of his time inside. He pulled himself back under the indeed rust covered Ute, muttering about 'lack of appreciation' and 'total misunderstanding of skill'
She just ignored him. Waiting for a minute before wandering deeper into the chasm like room dubbed by most who worked for ASIS 'the caves'. The network of rooms, alcoves, and walkways, as well as the fact that the only natural light source came from the skylights nearly four stories above them, did give a very cave-like feeling to the gargantuan area that produced some of the best tech on the planet. She ended up next to Sylvia, the older woman who had been working on the project that blew up when she had entered.
"Little stray has come back from the wars, how do you fare?" Sylvia boomed out. Her accent had intrigued Jackie from the moment she met her, musical and rich, the way she talked was different from the Australians she had met and what she could remember of the way people talked back in New Zealand, where she was born. It also didn't match anything she could think of. Sylvia was huge. She towered over Jackie, and everything about her was positively wild, from her hair which changed colour every month - currently the same shade as Russ's overalls, to her bedazzled cat eye glasses and blue overalls.
"Russ is taking forever, do you think he's going to stop being a moron and give me what I'm here for before or after our new guest breaks in here." Jackie grumbled.
"Hah! You think he's trouble little one? I have a thing or two you could give him. Been working on new toys."
"Nah I'll be fine, just want to throw him through a window already. He kicked me out of my meeting!" Jackie flopped down on the chair sitting next to Sylvia's desk, letting out a long sigh and rubbing at her temples. "I can't believe I need to teach this idiot how to row like someone with four years of experience in a month."
"Can't be all that bad sweetheart, at least you get to stay homeside for most of this one, rather than gallivanting off around the world." Said Russ, as he came over to stand beside the two, wiping the oil and grease from his hands with an already dirty old rag. "Which means you get to see my stunning face more often, not that it will be staying stunning much longer thanks to you, little miss."
"What do you mean by that?" Jackie asked, tipping her head back to look up at him, squinting at the man beside her, a spark of mischief in her blue eyes.
"I have to set up a whole rowing company with the best tech this side of anywhere and convince your lovely coach that yes I do want to sponsor your little club. Little chance of me getting enough sleep in the coming months little miss."
Jackie let out a bark of laughter, before looking at her watch and groaning.
"Time for little one to get going, no?" asked Sylvia.
"Yeah, Maria expecting me at home. Russ do you have my new set of knives ready to go?" Jackie replied. She was excited to get the new ones after she lost half of her field ones on her last mission, it annoyed her to no end, they were some of her favourite ones to use in the field, but there was no chance to go back and get them what with the bloody factory exploding.
"Not yet, I mean if you learned how to use a gun then all of this would be easier. Come back once you get back from camp, then I'll have the time to show you the add-ons. See you later little miss, please don't kill the MI6 agent."
Jackie laughed, before heading out to the door, where she found Alex leaning against the wall, seemingly asleep. She reached down and picked up her rowing gear from where she left it, putting on the hoodie, backpack, and cap. She stepped back for a moment looking at Alex.
He was tense, ready to spring into action at the slightest disturbance. There was no doubting the fact that he was a spy, Jackie could read it all in his body language, the set of his jaw, the shadows in his eyes. Maybe she should give him another chance, she knew it would be good for her to have someone who knew what this was all like.
A fresh start, even though he had been a bit of an annoying douche.
Smirking at the sleeping agent, she reached into the bag, grabbing out an apple and lobbing it at his head, successfully hitting his temple and making him jump up to his feet with a start.
"Oi! what was that for!" He cried out, glaring down at her. Jackie grinned down at him, sticking out a hand to help him up.
"Let's go," she said cheerily, scooping up the apple from where it had rolled away, and walking off down the hall. She looked over her shoulder expectantly and saw Alex shake his head before following her.
-#-#-
Twenty minutes later they had walked into Jackie's fourth favourite place on earth; Roxico Ice-Cream. The store was a wonderful reprieve from the heat, and she could barely hold back a grin when Alex sighed with pleasure as they walked into the wall of cool air. The shop was decorated in pastel colors and resembled a 50's diner minus the vehement racism.
Jackie walked straight up to the counter, bypassing the line in favour of jumping straight over the counter, to the horror of Alex and the one couple who weren't regulars there. Jackie grinned at the look that Alex was giving her, as she picked up a brown paper bag and handing it to him.
"Here, take this, I've got to pick up something for a friend, I'll be back out in two seconds." she said to him, ducking behind the door leading to the apartment above the, "Oh and ask Jonty over there for the days special, get me one too." she finished, handing him a ten dollar note and ducking through the door, scurrying up the stairs and into her closest friends house.
She picked up the brown paper sack from where Lucy said she would leave it, Jackie picked it up and stuffed it in her bag, shaking her head. Of course, Lucy would pick today to make the best use of Jackie having copious amounts of free time and get her to pick up the brownies Lucy was supposed to bring to her own damn study group. Oh well, it would only be a short detour, and they got to have some of the bet Ice-cream in Perth. She shrugged off her annoyance and went back downstairs, sliding into the booth Alex was currently sulking in, and digging into the mint choc lavender sundae that was in front of her.
"Why are we here?" Alex asked, a slight frown on his face as if the entire day had put him in a bad mood. "And how is the 'daily special' two completely different things?" he gestured between Jackies mint choc lavender sundae and his honey-fudge cookie blitz.
"Jonty knows. It's his superpower. He'll get you what you need, and that particular drink comes with a double espresso shot, which you clearly need."
At this Alex just looked offended, but begrudgingly drank up some more of his honey-fudge cookie blitz as Jackie happily tucked into her sundae.
"So what part of Australia are you from? I don't think that I've heard your accent before." He said.
Jackie giggled. "I'll tell you on the way to where I have to drop these off," she said holding up the brown paper bag. "You all good to walk and drink that?"
Alex nodded, and they left.
-#-#-
As they walked, Alex started to feel the effects of whatever he was drinking. He wasn't sure why he had trusted the stranger who made it, or more importantly why he had trusted Jackie, but at this point after the long day of flying, meeting with the head of ASIS, and Jackie. For now, he was blaming it on jet lag, and feeling slightly better with some caffeine in his system. Ben might be right about the both of them having far too much of the stuff, but when you're running on four hours sleep over the span of three days, caffeine is the best thing on the planet.
He shook his head, clearing it of the irrelevant thoughts and musings that always came forward when he was tired, and looked down to Jackie who was walking with a skip in her step. There was no way she could be a spy, at least not for anywhere as long a he had been. She was probably just some random kid they picked off the street somewhere, Alex would be surprised if she had even been overseas on a single mission. He hoped, for her sake and the sake of his sanity, that ASIS just used her to get intelligence off unsuspecting adults.
Despite the fact that it must have been getting close to thirty degrees, she had put her hoodie on shortly after they left ASIS headquarters, shoving the sleeves up to her elbows, and had her cap low over her eyes. If everything she was wearing hadn't been branded with 'BBRC' and the blue tree he would have thought she was trying to be inconspicuous.
"Still trying to figure out where I'm from?" she laughed up at him, flashing him a quick grin. "You look like your head's up in the clouds," Jackie said
"Yes, is it Sydney?" He replied, covering for the fact that he had completely forgotten that h was trying to figure out where the heck Jackie was from.
Jackie stopped stock still, looking horrified "No, definitely not. I'm from New Zealand."
"Never heard of it." Alex said shaking his head. It was bad enough he was stuck working with another kid agent in over their head, now Jackie was lying to him.
"Do I need to pull up a world map? Because I'm pretty sure they have one where we're going." She replied, before turning the conversation onto something that Alex really didn't want to talk about. "So how long have you been in this business? tried to read you file, but I can speak Russian about as well as you can speak whatever language it was that they translated my file into." Jakie shook her head.
She said something after that, but Alex had stopped listening. Instead, he was forming a plan to show everyone that putting some little girl out into the field would only lead to catastrophe. Jackie looked like she was about ten, made of glass and full of hope. Alex was sure that if he so much as touched her wrong she would break. When he was her age he was having fun at school, mucking around, and wondering when his uncle would be home from his 'business trip'. At the very least he had made it to the age of fourteen before he was forced into becoming a spy.
He hoped to god that Ethan was joking when he said that they were 'evenly matched' and that Jackie was handling the beginning of the mission. if Jackie had been doing this for as long as he had, she would have started when she was seven, and there was no way she could have been raised the same way he was, there was no way she had the same skills to fall back on, he honestly doubted that she had much training, and he hoped that she was only used as a lookout.
There was no way in hell he was admitting that she reminded him of Jack.
By the time they reached a three-story brick building, that Jackie said was a local YMCA, Alex had come up with his plan, and thankfully Jackie acted exactly as he thought she would, heading into the building to drop off the brown paper bag. As soon as the door closed behind her, he disappeared into the glimmering afternoon heat of the city.
-#-#-
"So how long did it take you to find the bastard?" Lucy asked when Jackie came to the part of the story where Alex took off.
"Five minutes, I tracked him for half an hour until I saw him pay a guy to try and take my bag from me. That's not the bit that really pissed me off mind you, I only started seeing red when he stepped in and tried to 'save' me." Jackie replied, sitting up from where they were lying on the floor, "The idiot thinks I'm as fragile as a newborn lamb. It's infuriating"
"Well we can infuriate him back during dinner," Lucy said, she stood up offering a hand to Jackie, pulling her to her feet.
Their footsteps echoed up the stairs, the sound rebounding off the walls of the now dark basement.