11. FRIEND
A.N: There's yet another cameo in this chapter, Jerry from Totally Spies, Martin Mystery's 'sister' show. Jerry's the leader of WOOHP (World Organization Of Human Protection), an organization very much like the Center, but focused on criminals and not monsters. Jerry's about 40, British, and dependant on technology.
Thanks to Sailorstar165 for betaing.
The next day, back in Torrington, M.O.M again borrowed Martin's cell phone, which he had left in his room, and called the one who could help them. The sun was barely rising, and since it was Saturday, both Martin and Diana had plans to sleep in late--until M.O.M called through Martin's U-Watch and asked what they were doing. Martin changed out of his pajamas gloomily. He had no idea what M.O.M was thinking; who would like to get up that early?
Once they showed up in Martin's room, they discovered M.O.M was already waiting for them in front of an open portal. Martin felt relieved that he had decided to change before looking for Diana. He had no qualms with walking around in his pajamas inside the school's living quarters, but anything beyond that he was too shy to even attempt.
M.O.M beckoned them to the portal, once the door had been closed behind them. "Good morning, agents," she greeted, a smile appearing on her face when she noticed the still sleepy faces.
"Morning?" Martin started, complaining. "I don't see the sun. It's not even dawn and you call this morning?" He was exaggerating, of course, but Diana fully agreed with him. Not even she, with her tight schedule, would want to wake up at this hour. She nodded weakly at his words.
"Yes, yes, it's early," M.O.M commented knowingly before explaining, "Forgive me, but that's what you would expect when there's an ongoing invasion at the Center. WOOHP's manager is willing to help us out," she said, pointing toward the portal and waiting for them to cross.
"WOOHP?" asked Martin, stopping in front of the portal absentmindedly, blocking his sister's way.
"Martin," Diana sighed and, in a tone Martin was sure to label annoying, said, "it stands for World Organization of Human Protection…"
"Precisely. The organization trades with the Center; they're our main weapon-provider, and the manager is a friend of mine," M.O.M said.
Martin, finally satisfied, stepped forward and crossed the portal, Diana and M.O.M following behind. They entered an office, and what an office! The steel-covered walls and shining white floors made it seem almost bare and far too impersonal as there were no pictures, no shelves… There was barely any furniture except for the orange leather couch and chair, and a desk in front of a massive screen. In a way, this was like M.O.M's office. Impeccable, impersonal, formal… Empty, even.
As Diana and Martin marveled at the room, M.O.M snickered, her arms crossed. "Notice how clean this place is," She instructed, grinning. "Jerry suffers from Mysophobia." She smiled widely. Martin had barely opened his mouth to ask before she added, "Fear of germs."
"A guy like this couldn't run the Center, I imagine," commented Diana.
M.O.M turned to look at her. "He was offered the position, actually, but turned it down."
A metal plate separated from the wall and slid to one side, capturing the attention of all those present.
A middle-aged man was standing there, clad in a blue suit. He looked at them, surprised for a moment, and then smiled. "Well, look who's here!" He walked over to M.O.M, saying the words with a British accent faded by the years. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"It certainly has," M.O.M replied, hugging the man fondly. She turned him around by the shoulder. "These," she told him, "are Martin and Diana."
"My name is Jerry," he said, extending a hand for them to shake. He looked at the three Center agents before asking pleasantly, "May I interest you in a cup of tea?"
M.O.M smiled before answering, "Not today, thank you. We just have a little time. The Center is under… I guess you could call it an unsuccessful siege."
Jerry whispered, "Oh, no!" He then looked down at M.O.M's clothes, which were still very much the same Martin and Diana had found her in--dirt and bloodstains included. "And what happened to you?" he gasped, trying to lead M.O.M to the couch.
"Nothing." That was a story for some other time, when they weren't in a rush to stop Armin. "Anyway, we need WOOHP's weapons, as always." Jerry let it be, and then M.O.M looked at him, a smile on her face. "And if you could do me a small favor…"
"Of course," Jerry cut in. "What is it?"
"Diana and Martin," the siblings turned at the sound of their names, "have helped me a lot these past few days. Could they take a little curiosity with them, as my thanks?"
Martin beamed and thanked M.O.M, jumping up and down in excitement. Diana just smiled. Jerry, meanwhile, walked to a keypad to type a code, and another panel on the wall separated. Martin looked at M.O.M questioningly. She nodded with a smile, and both siblings went into the room.
"Choose one item!" M.O.M called after them. Then, she turned to Jerry. "Can you open the armory up for us?" Her face became more serious; the smile that had up to now been plastered on her face disappeared, and her eyes remained glued to the floor.
"So this is perhaps more serious that you yourself are willing to accept?" Jerry commented, typing another code.
M.O.M glared at him. "I don't need a mental evaluation. I need weapons able to banish a werewolf spirit, and I need them quickly!"
She was really desperate, he could see, and so, with a beckoning gesture, he hurried through the newly opened door. "You know, you're going to have to tell me about this," Jerry said cautiously, hoping not to upset M.O.M any further.
"I do." She sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped."
She wanted to keep a calm face for both Diana and Martin. She was supposed to be the cold-headed one here, but right now she was just unable to act like it. This was too much. She'd gone through being stabbed to paralyzed, from putting her agents at risk to the Center being under the constant surveillance of the one to blame for all of that, not to mention he used to be her friend. There was enough pressure upon her shoulders to break her strong façade.
The room they entered was lined with endless shelves that went from the floor to the ceiling, all filled with various artifacts. Jerry turned to ask M.O.M what exactly she was looking for and found her looking at the ceiling absently and leaning her back against one of the shelves. She sighed, and he neared her.
"It will be all right," he stated, awkwardly and uncertainly.
"That's just it," she said, not tearing her gaze from the ceiling just yet. "You don't know that, and neither do I."
"True. But I trust it will, and I trust you. That is enough." He ventured a smile in her direction. "Now, let me do the only thing I can to help you. What kind of device are you after?"
Perhaps he was right. Believing everything would turn out all right was better than thinking negatively. And so, M.O.M smiled back. Jerry knew nothing, really, but him saying he trusted her relieved her of many of her burdens, taking the weight and pressure off her back.
"Thank you," she told him earnestly and pushed off the wall to stand beside him. "You see, for this I need to tell you what the Gatekeeper said."
"You went to him?" Jerry asked in disbelief.
"I did, and he was kind enough to tell us that what we need is sunlight, concentrated in a beam, to send the spirit back into the Gateway. But here comes the problem…"
"It's closed."
"Exactly. The spirit will bounce back, and we need a way to stop it before it picks another host," M.O.M finished.
"And I assume that would be either the former one, you, Martin or Diana?" He started to walk to a far shelf on his right. "How troublesome."
M.O.M scoffed. "I agree."
Jerry handed her something that looked like a rifle, and told her, "This shoots concentrated light. With a few adjustments, you will have a beam of sunlight. The modifications are fairly easy. You'll take three, am I right?"
"Four," M.O.M answered, following Jerry down a hall to get the tools required to modify the rifles. "Billy needs one as well. Any ideas for something to stop the spirit with?" she asked.
"Well, I have a freezing liquid I'm sure could work, and a very resistant Plexiglas cage, to add."
"That would do. Yes, please," M.O.M said, and then asked, looking down at her clothes, "And do you by any chance have a spare uniform?"
Jerry nodded, and she followed him through some more hallways, but when they got to the uniform rack, she grimaced. The WHOOP signature outfit, the skintight suit Jerry's agents used, was arranged by colors. Jerry was about to hand one of the white ones to M.O.M when she cleared her throat.
"Anything more… " She trailed off, looking for an adjective that would not offend him, as there was no way she would wear one of those.
"Center-like?" he finished for her while walking a couple of steps to the left to come to a piece of the wall lined with drawers. He opened one to get her a uniform pretty much like the one she was currently wearing, sans stains and with the WOOHP logo instead of the Center's.
She thanked Jerry just as a Martin called from the door. "M.O.M? Where are you?"
She stepped around the shelf to the hallway directly across from the door. "Here. Come, we're almost done," she told the siblings, who followed Jerry and M.O.M through a few other hallways, where Jerry picked up two of the freezing liquid containers and a Plexiglas cage, and the rest of what he needed to modify the rifles.
Jerry then led them back to his office, where he started working on the rifles while M.O.M examined the rest of the artifacts, including those Martin and Diana had picked to take with them. There were the small freezing bubbles, which would supposedly release liquid after two seconds of activation; the Plexiglas sheet, made to unfold into a big square cage; an alien clock, formed into a transparent crystal cube, which Diana had picked and promised to learn how to read it; and lastly, a small but very potent laser pointer that's light changed color every few seconds that Martin had picked.
M.O.M pocketed her items and returned the laser and clock to Martin and Diana, then walked over to watch Jerry finish the last of the rifles. Their appearance hadn't changed significantly after Jerry's modifications; the nozzle was wider and the barrel was made of a lighter metal, but that was it.
"So," Jerry stated, "our business here is concluded." He smiled courteously. "Do you need transportation back to… Wherever you were?"
M.O.M smiled and nodded. "Torrington High School. I'll set the parameters, and thank you." She stepped next to Jerry behind the desk and typed in Martin's room and the floor it was in. Then she returned to Martin and Diana and waved to Jerry as the familiar noise of a vacuum started above them.