I would have updated sooner, if it wasn't for school starting back up. Not to mention all the homework I had already. Oh, well. I guess that's what happens in your junior year, huh?
Chapter Seven: Kind of Acting on Impulse
Let me explain something. All male platypuses have poisonous barbs on their ankles. The barbs grow in about a week after birth, but they don't become toxic until a few months after that. The venom is extremely powerful and is be fatal to small animals. While it is unlikely to kill humans, it is strong enough to cause a horrible pain to them. Think of it as being stung in the same spot by a hundred hornets.
That's why I was so upset when I discovered that Caspian was right, and I was missing a barb. I hastily checked my other foot, relieved to see that I at least had one ankle barb. I was already at the poisonous age.
I must have looked pretty freaked, because Carl said, "You were right, sir. He really is sentient. And, I guess he can understand us." Most platypuses are rather - dare I say - stupid and don't generally show emotion. "Still, I doubt that he's-"
Major Monogram, an unreadable expression on his face, slapped his hand over Carl's mouth. "Would you excuse us for a minute?"
They stepped out of the tent, and I fingered my bandage again. One barb down. I'd have to be extra careful not to lose my other one. I think Caspian said something, but I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to hear him. I was still reeling from the day's events.
Caspian squeezed my shoulder. "You okay, kid?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. This is just... It-it's a lot to take in." Caspian nodded in understanding. A thought occurred to me. "Caspian, why did he call you Agent C?"
"'Cause I work for him," he said simply.
It wasn't very simple for me. Animals working for humans? That didn't make any sense. Except... "Uh, y-you were talking about what happened to Miles the Platypus?"
Caspian looked confused for a moment, then his face lit up in remembrance. "Oh, yeah, that. Before we get to that, I should probably ask you somethin'. Kid, are you member of STORM?" My heart almost stopped. "Monogram noticed your sentience, so he wanted me to find out if you were with STORM. That's why I told you so much about OWCA. To see if it rang a bell at all. I mean, STORM is pure evil, and it's OWCA's biggest threat, so..."
I had never heard of OWCA. Of course, it sounded like it would have been something I'd have learned about after my training. But, if it was an enemy of STORM, then I couldn't let this agent know I was one of them. I shook my head. "I've never even heard of either of those before you told me about them."
He looked me over, and I could tell he was trying to decide whether or not I was lying. Well, I was half-lying. Obviously, I knew about STORM. Apparently believing me - I was an excellent lier - he nodded. "Okay. Now, about Miles. I don't know exactly what happened to him, but I've heard some things. I hear he had a kid with STORM's leader - I think her name's Patricia, or somethin' - and she found out he was in OWCA. Not sure what happened after that, though... Ah, well. I'm sure it was nothin' to terrible-"
I stopped listening. Patricia was my mother. Miles was my father. I was the kid. My father worked with OWCA. With humans. What did it mean? My head started to hurt. It was all too much. Rascal's death, my own near-death experience, this whole OWCA-thing, my own father working with humans. It was nearly impossible to wrap my mind around. But, when I did think about it... Major Monogram and Carl were humans. They didn't try to hurt me, like I'd been taught that they'd do. They had saved me.
I think I interrupted him, but I didn't care at the moment. "Caspian, are humans nice?" He seemed a little suspicious at the question, like he thought I was asking because of what STORM teaches you. "I've just never seen a human before those two, and I'm curious if the other ones are nice." Not a lie.
Caspian relaxed at my clarification. "Well, it's true that there are a lot of nice humans out there. It's also true that there are a lot of bad ones. What OWCA does is take the bad ones down a notch and keep them from causing any trouble."
"So, you work with humans to fight evil?" I summarized.
"Pretty much."
"Are there any other animals in OWCA?"
"Heck, yeah. In fact, OWCA is about eighty percent animal agents."
"Can I join?" I almost flinched at my own question.
Caspian seemed as surprised as I was. "Uh, I'll have to check with Monogram. He's kinda my boss. I'll, uh, I'll be right back." He left me to my thoughts.
I had absolutely no idea why I asked that. Join STORM's enemy? Turn my back on everything I'd been brought up on?
But...when I thought about it, could I really continue my life with STORM? After I was rescued by humans, could I ever kill one in cold blood? Moreover, my gut was telling me that Caspian was telling me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That humans could be good. Although, I wasn't entirely convinced about STORM being 'pure evil,' I didn't think that I could continue being a part of them.
Or, maybe I was just being a naïve child. Either way, it seemed like hours before Caspian and the humans came back in, even though I knew it was only a few minutes.
Major Monogram knelt down to look at me at eye-level. "So, Perry - Agent C told us your name, by the way - you want to join the O.W.C.A.?"
I found myself slightly intimidated by his unreadable gaze. I looked to Caspian for support. He gave me a thumbs-up. Hoping I looked more confident than I felt, I nodded at the human.
He nodded back. "Okay." He stood upright. "You can understand me, right?" I rolled my eyes and nodded. I assumed it was obvious. "Just clarifying."
Caspian told me that the huge contraption was called a 'plane.' He explained that he and several other members of OWCA were only in Australia for research. When I asked about the 'research,' he said that it was classified, so I didn't question him any further on the subject. The plane was apparently taking us to some place called 'Danville.' Since animals weren't allowed on a certain part of the plane, I was stuck in a crate in the cargo, along with the other animals. "Can't let people know we're anthropomorphic," Caspian had told me. I went along with it, after questioning what 'anthropomorphic' meant. Apparently, OWCA was a secret organization, and no one wanted to attract attention with personified animals.
I thought about the situation I'd gotten myself into. I was leaving the Outback, heading to some place I knew nothing about, with animals I barely knew anything about. I really needed to stop acting on impulse. Oh, well. There was no turning back now. Still, we'd just taken off, and I already felt homesick.
The cargo room wasn't very big, so none of us could get out of our crates and move around. At least, we could all chat amongst ourselves. Well, the agents chatted. I just listened to see if I could learn anything else about what I was going to be dealing with. Unfortunately, most of the conversations were about the complete lack of elbow we had, comments about everyone's bosses - which led to some of the agents snickering - and things in that nature. On the bright side, I no longer felt sick.
Caspian was in a crate nearby and tried to introduce me to some of the other agents, so I felt a little better, knowing that I wasn't being totally ignored. Although, it was kind of hard to learn names when you were all squished together and couldn't really see anyone very well.
Deciding that mingling was futile, I tried to get some sleep, which was hard when you were trapped in an uncomfortable crate, with so much on your mind, surrounded by chattered secret agents.
This was gonna be a long flight.
I'm a little unsure about this chapter, but I think it came out okay. Review!
