Chapter Eleven: Our Mission to Change the World Part I
Ari II's POV
Omega says that the Director wishes to see us in her office immediately. We all file out of the room we've been in and follow Omega in our normal formation; I'm next to Omega.
We enter the room and stand at attention by the wall, but not touching it with our backs, while the Director finishes what she's doing. I personally think that she takes extra time whenever we're here just to test our patience, but we have an enormous amount of patience so it never works. We've been here for ten minutes already, just standing here, yet my feet don't hurt and I'm just plain bored.
Finally she seems to notice us and turns to face us. "At ease." We all sink into the chairs to our right but face the Director with our complete attention. "I've called you here because we have a very important mission for you.
"You all are going to capture three important members of the CSM, or the Coalition to Stop the Madness. First you will capture Dr. John Abate in Los Angeles, California. Then you will capture Dr. Brigid Dwyer from Maryland. Finally, you'll capture Dr. Valencia Martinez, Maximum Ride's mother, from Arizona.
"We expect you to use intelligence so that the rest of the CSM doesn't know who's capturing the scientists, stealth so you do it fast and quietly, and the special traits you each bring to Generation R. You have one week. This is your mission to change the world.
"Now, you have your orders; get moving!"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" All of us say at the same time, as we were trained to do.
We all jump up and rush out after Omega down the hall into our bedroom. Rushing smoothly to our beds, we all pack our clothes and basic things like Swiss Army Knives, rope, duct tape, weapons, and lock picks into our backpacks and the pockets of our cargo pants.
Within ten minutes, we're in the jet cargo bay, with our packs, and are waiting for jeeps to be loaded onto the jet we'll be using to get around.
While we're waiting, Omega gives me an almost invisible ear piece that's a walkie talkie so we can talk. I put it into my right ear and can feel it camouflaging itself so that it's the same color as my ear and even more invisible than before.
Finally our jeeps are onboard and we can get onto the jet. We all take our seats, I'm next to Omega, and get ready for a silent flight.
Many hours later, we're landing at a private airport just outside of L.A. We get into the jeeps; I have to sit in the back of Omega's car so that the police won't stop us because I'm only "eleven" to them. We then head out to the border of the city.
When we get there we head towards the address of the target, hoping that his home will be empty at this time of day so that we can bug it. In theory, he should be at work since it's almost one o'clock, which means his house should be empty.
We get to the house and see no car, but we scout the area out anyway because you never know if someone is hiding, even if it is unlikely. Whenever I pass someone, the same thing is done: we shake our heads no. There are no signs of life or any good security. For security he only has locks on all the windows as well as a standard house alarm.
"Come to the porch and bring anyone near you with," Omega orders me through the ear piece.
"Yes sir!" I look around, see about half the group, and whistle sharply.
When I whistle, every head snaps towards me and I motion with my arm for them to follow me as I walk towards the porch. They follow me without question or even thinking about it – I'm second-in-command.
We go to the porch and see that the others are all over there with Omega already. Everyone crowds around him to hear what orders he has to give out to us.
"Hades, Slayer, you two are going to work together to get the door opened undetected. Hades, you pick the lock and open the door. Slayer, you go inside and inside and turn off the alarm.
"Then, Wolf, take these bugs," Omega hands Wolf a handful of tiny, undetectable bugs, "and bug every room in the house with at least two. Yes, even the bathroom." Wolf had just been about to ask; you could see it on his face, so Omega added that.
"Hades, Slayer, you have two minutes. Wolf, you have three. Go!"
They all rush to the door. Hades is already picking the lock. Slayer has a handheld computer that has a cord attached to it so that when the cord is attached to any electronic, it can shut it right off.
Hades swings the door open in thirty seconds flat, but Slayer and Wolf are already flying through the house before I can blink. The alarm is going off, but within moments of the door opening, it shuts off. No one will be suspicious.
Slayer comes out of the door, pleased with himself, and we all listen to Wolf moving almost silently around the house. To a human, he is silent, but to those with very enhanced hearing, he's still hearable, if only slightly.
A minute after the door had swung open, Wolf comes out and Hades uses his lock pick to lock the door back up so it looks as if we had never been here. Slayer uses the computer to wirelessly turn the alarm back on so that nothing seems wrong with it.
We walk off Dr. Abate's property and look back at it. Everything looks exactly as it had the first time we had even set eyes on it. Not even the grass looks touched.
We all go back to the jeeps and in them, heading back to the airport. We then go to the most private lounge and have food brought to us while Omega describes the plan the two of us had thought up in the jeep on the way back to the airport since the two of us had ordered the others to let us be alone in the jeep.
"We shall listen to the bugs until we find out where he's going. Then, we'll trick him by sending in Angel, Ozzy, Frannie, and Gazzy. You four will pretend to be the originals and tell him that you got separated from the rest.
"Then, Fang and Matthew will "find" them and do all the usual stuff like thanking Dr. Abate. While he's busy with you, the rest of us will sneak up from behind, hood him, then tie him up, and we'll all bring him back here for transport.
"Got it?" Everyone nods. "Good, but have some lunch now while he's not at home so that you have energy." We all smile and dig into our lunches.
A few hours later, I'm taking my turn of listening to the bugs for an hour when Dr. Abate finally gets home. It sounds like he's on the phone.
"Yeah. Mm-hm. Of course, but I need a day off tomorrow. I'm only going to that secluded beach with the small ponds to the southwest. Yes, I'll be careful Valencia. Max? No, I haven't heard from either Flock, but they've gone three weeks without calling before, so don't worry about it; they're probably just busy. Bye." The breaks in his talking are so small that I figure he usually does most of the talking.
He hangs up the phone and I call Icarus over to listen to the bugs while I tell Omega exactly what we want to hear.
"He's going to a secluded beach alone tomorrow," I say by way of greeting as I enter Omega's room.
"Did you hear this? If so," he continues without waiting for an answer, guessing I heard it, "then did he say where it is and when he's going?"
"Yes, I'm the one who heard it. He's going to a beach to the southwest that has a bunch of small ponds and he's going tomorrow for a day off. He wants to relax." I smirk slightly at that.
Omega paces the room for a minute, thinking, before he turns back to me. "How did you learn this? Like, why did he say it?"
"He was on the phone with Dr. Valencia Martinez, who is, by the way, worried about her daughter, Max, and the rest since they haven't called in a few days."
"The Director expected there to be worry about them, which is why we have to act fast.
"I was actually thinking we should send on Hades, Slayer, Wolf, and Wendy to Maryland so they can start scouting early. Find out her schedule and bug the place. Wendy in charge, of course, with Hades as second-in-command."
"I think that's a good idea. Send them on tonight, though, so that they have all day tomorrow to scout." Omega nods and gets up, leaving the room with me on his tail.
We both get to the lounge and whistle sharply, calling any not already in here to the room. They all rush in, knowing it's important since we both had whistled, and sit when we motion to.
"There's been a slight change of plans," Omega starts. "We're going to split up into two groups."
He looks at me and I start, but with a new and better plan in mind that I know he'll agree to. "Omega is going to be taking Fang, Wendy, Hades, Slayer, and Wolf with him to Maryland. You're going to watch the next target and try to catch her before the rest of us get there.
"I'll be leading the group here since we already have the place and it will give you all an extra day of hunting. We'll meet you in Maryland or Arizona in late morning, the day after tomorrow."
Everyone nods, including Omega who's nodding in agreement and staring at me in amazement. I motion to Omega, taking the heat off of me and giving it back to him. He snaps into leader mode instantly, shaking off his amazement to make it seem like he knew this plan the whole time.
"Right. Wendy, Fang, Hades, Slayer, and Wolf, get your gear together. We leave in half an hour. Nudge, go tell one of the jets to get ready. Go!"
They all rush to their jobs and I follow Omega to his room. He packs his bag before turning to me.
"That… is an excellent plan, Ari. One real leader in each group, both groups going after a scientist. I only have one question: why is Fang with me?"
I smirk slightly. "Remember her file? She likes Fang, even though he loves Maximum Ride. He'll be the perfect bait. I'll send Nudge in his place for my mission."
"You have this all thought out within a minute or less?" I nod. "Amazing and very good. I'm putting this into the report for sure. Now… I'd better go." I nod again and follow him to the loading deck.
Just before he gets on the jet, Omega turns to me. "You'll make a great leader and won't fail." Then he gets on the plane.
Early the next morning, we're flying above the beach, which we found easily. By we I mean Nudge, Matt, Frannie, Ozy, Gazzy, Iggy, Icarus, Angel, and me; my mini- Generation R.
At about seven o'clock, he comes to the beach. I signal us all down to the west where some trees are. He's setting up a towel and an umbrella while we tuck in our wings.
After he's done setting up and has been relaxing for a few minutes, I motion the four youngest (other than me) out onto the beach. They run out towards Dr. Abate, looking a bit lost.
"Angel! Gazzy, Ozy, Frannie! What are you four doing here? What are you doing here alone?" He's very surprised to see them.
"We were playing and got separated from the rest." Angel's following the plan perfectly and sounding like an innocently little girl while she does it.
"Yeah," Ozy continues, "and then we saw you down here on the beach a minute ago."
Gazzy nods. "We came down here since we know you and we're lost."
"I'm glad you all trust me enough to come down to me. Now, let's see if we can't find the others."
I motion for Nudge and Matthew to go in now.
"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you! We even split up to search for you. Oh, hi Dr. Abate." No wonder the original Nudge's mouth is usually covered, she really can talk when she wants to.
"Are you kids going to need a phone?" He takes his out as I motion the rest of the group to forward and they follow behind me.
"No, it's ok. We have a spot to meet the rest at in a bit."
"Oh, okay. Well, we're been worried since none of you have called." We sneak up behind him.
I'm holding one of those black hoods, and even though I smell it with my enhanced sense of smell, I'm fine. When I was made, the scientists made it so that I could last five minutes with this hood half a foot from my nose and not feel dizzy. I can last two to three minutes with one on my head before it knocks me out. Very helpful and I'm the only one with this, so I usually handle the hoods.
"Sorry about that…" I smile at Nudge just before I slip the hood over his head, him not even knowing I was there.
Once the hood is over his head, Iggy ties his hands behind his back with rope. Icarus helps him sit down. We all watch (yes, in Generation R, the two blind kids aren't blind anymore) as he calls over onto the ground, out cold.
I smile. "Mission complete, guys. Great job all of you. Now let's get him back to base and rest up before we head over to the next target."
One down, two more to go.
Look, I know I should have updated long before now, but I've been very busy and real life got crazy. I had Finals in school, I kept getting distracted, I wasn't in the mood to write, and the worst reason is Shingles. Shingles are known as the second attack of the chicken pox (which I've never had, oddly enough) and they are painful, itchy, and not something I ever want again. I still have them, but they're healing and there's nothing else the doctors can do so... I'm going back to my normal routine now and I should have chapters to post.
Chapter 12 is typed and ready to post, so I'll put it up in a few days. Please try to get people to read this story... It would make me feel so much happier.
You all should check out The Story of A Bird Kid by Shayne Rider. It's really good. Also, look at the stories of my other reviewers and my favorite Maximum Ride stories. They're all really good.
Please review, they'll make me post chapter 12 faster.
Edited: 4/4/10