Disclaimer:I don't own any rights to CHERUB, all rights belong to Robert Muchamore.

A/N: Yeey we're back! Only for a while though, I have my secondary exam attempts coming up shortly so I don't that much time to write. Hope you like the chapter.

Chapter 11: Con, Love and Separation

He panted. She smiled and mocked him. Paul firmly gripped the wooden sword and jumped towards Mia. He readied himself for the attack. Mia simply evaded and smacked the sword out of his hand and forced him on the ground. She pressed her bokken into his throat.

'Give it up, Paul. You're never going to beat her today,' yelled Chloë.

The Delta's were in the dojo. While Paul and Mia were on the floor, the others were sitting on the benches.

'What's the score?' whispered Julia.

'14-0,' answered Francis. 'Mia can't be bested with the sword. Only Ming could perhaps beat her.'

Paul relaxed and sighed. 'I surrender for the last time. I've had enough. Besides I have to go to the archery club.'

Mia helped him on his feet. They kissed before Paul slowly backed off and walked towards the others, while Mia gathered the swords. Paul accepted the bottle of water that John held out and drank plenty.

'Francis, got any of those biscuits left? They are delicious.'

'Nope, sorry mate. They ate them all,' he said gesturing at his sister and Jules.

'Thanks a lot you guys.'

'No problem,' replied Jules with a vicious grin.

Paul looked at her with an angry look and left the dojo and went straight to the changing room.

'You're late,' scowled Anna. 'Any excuse?'

'Are you still angry cause I can't use another bow yet?' Paul asked while retrieving his.

'Maybe. Now get your arse in line, before I make you run laps till midnight.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Only Paul, Fiona, Carrot top and Anna were present. The others were all gone on missions. The four of them were firing arrow after arrow.

'So how was the mission?' asked Carrot top.

'Okay I guess.'

'I think it went better than okay. Navy shirt and all.' Carrot top looked at him. She was still wearing the gray shirt.

'Please not you too,' he sighed. 'I've had too much for today.'

'Good. I'll come back tomorrow,' she said while firing another arrow. Bullseye.

The sun was beating down mercilessly. Almost at high noon, there was almost no shade. Sounds of marching footsteps and a siren sounded through the air.

Paul loaded a couple of shells and waited. The others had already been defeated. Only he was left. He dashed out of his hiding spot and took out three men before seven barrels were aimed at him.

'Surrender or face humiliation,' said the voice of Anna.

Before Paul could even squeeze the trigger he was hit by dozens of paintballs.

'Delta's lose,' said Carrottop cheerfully. 'Not so invincible anymore.'

'Oh shut it,' he said before storming away.

'What's the matter with you?' said Kerry as she looked at her team that was covered in paint splashes. 'You barely were able to defend the flag for an hour. And the six of you got trashed in forty minutes.'

'And whose fault is that? I can barely take a shit without another paper assignment being shoved in my hands,' growled John. 'I haven't slept eight hours straight for days now.'

'Same goes for me,' said Jules. 'Teaching red shirts how to pick a lock with nothing more than some hair pins is exhausting.'

'O, you're all blaming campus policy now?' asked Kerry. 'You all know the rules guys.'

'Then you can stick the rules where the sun never gets to shine,' said Paul. 'I've been doing three hour nights for ten days now and that all because I have to catch up on stupid schoolwork, get my belts, train with the archery club and do shitty compound training.'

'Well what are you going to do about that agent Winters?' she asked jokingly.

'I call it quits. Yeah you heard me, I quit,' said Paul before storming out.

The others looked with shock as Paul smacked the door shut.

'I take Paul's suggestion,' said Francis calmly. 'Give us more time to do our work or Delta loses its tech genius.'

'You can't threaten us,' said Kerry skeptically.

The remaining Delta's stared at her for a couple of moments, then followed Paul's example and left Kerry standing in the changing room.

'Those bloody autists.'

'Have you seen the Delta's?' asked Kerry. 'Haven't seen them since we go back from compound training.'

She was standing at a table in the dining hall with mostly black shirts. They were also known as the Captains, as they all were captains of some club or campus team.

'I saw Paul and Francis marching down the corridor of their dorms. They were gesturing frantically and muttering something about leaving this 'hellhole'.'

'Same goes for John and Jules. Although they said something about meeting at the gate.'

'Yeah now that you mention it I think I saw Mia en Chloë with some backpacks. If I recall correctly they didn't seem to be wearing their uniforms. Are they on a mission?'

Anna took a quick look at Kerry and saw panic. 'Kerry, what happened?'

She stared at the Captains and sighed. 'I didn't take it seriously. Oh God.'

'Kerry! What is it?'

'After the match, I made a remark about their poor performance. They blamed it on pressure from school, the clubs and others. I said it were the rules. They threaten to quit. I didn't think they would go through with it.'

'What the hell are they thinking?' said Rick, captain of the climbing club. 'Are they actually thinking about just walking out?'

'Could be. We all know that the Delta's are not the most conventional types,' said Matt, captain of the cooking club.

'True that,' concurred Elise, captain of the photography club and Edward, leader of the woodwork club.'

'So, what are we waiting for? I ain't letting my most enthusiastic member leave CHERUB,' said Cain, captain of the music club.

The six of them followed Cain towards the exit.

'What are they doing?' asked Matt.

'They're doing schoolwork? While listening to music?' said Cain.

The seven were watching the Delta's who were lying in the grass. None of them were wearing the mandatory uniforms. They all had earphones in or headphones on. Laptops were used used to type documents. Books were being read, while notes were taken.

Francis was the first to look up from his book. He smiled as he made the others aware of the spectators. John and Paul took off their headphones. The others followed their example.

'Well, look at that, The Magnificent Seven have arrived,' said John.

'Team Delta, what is the meaning of this?' demanded Kerry.

'Homework I guess,' answered Mia. 'It was a nice day, so we decided to do it outdoors.'

'Now if you please, I have a couple of papers to finish,' said Paul returning to his laptop.

'Explain yourself agent Gray,' demanded Edward.

'What Mia said,' replied John.

'Not that you twats,' spat Anna. 'The six of you aren't wearing mandatory uniforms.'

'So? Neither do the agents who bail campus on friday,' said Paul from behind his screen.

'That's because they're not on campus, smartass,' said Rick.

'Fine,' said Paul. He packed his laptop and lifted it onto his shoulder. Without looking back, he walked towards the main gate.

'Paul, what are you doing?' asked Mia.

He turned around and said: 'Well, Rick seems to have a problem with me not wearing my uniform on campus, so I'm gonna do it outside of campus grounds. I only have two choices: bail campus and survive in the wild until the end of time or stay here, face punishment laps for not wearing the uniform, which in turn means that I have less time to catch up with schoolwork, which means less sleep and ... you get the picture right? I only have to choose the less bad choice. In my opinion that is the wild.'

'You can't be serious Bear,' said Anna.

'Why not? It's not as if I'm some irreplaceable agent. Oh wait. And furthermore if I keep on lacking sleep and energy, I might be late again and then you get to be mad at me, again.'

Paul turned back around and started walking towards the gate, where two guards got spooked.

'Wait!' yelled Kerry. 'If we give you a week off from everything but school, would you be able to get all your schoolwork done? That means no extracurricular activities, no compound training, no nothing except school.'

Paul stopped. 'With you, you mean the six of us right?'

'Yes, you is the entire Team Delta,' sighed Kerry.

'Get it in print for each of us and you've got yourself a deal.'

Half an hour later, Kerry came back with a contract for every member of Team Delta. All of them signed with a great smile. Paul returned the pen and cleared his throat.

'Know that we've gotten it in print, we can confess that we actually have no more work to finish. We finished our last assignments an hour ago. But fear not, the week that you have given us will be used proactively.'

'You did what!?' exclaimed Kerry and the Captains.

'You got conned by six autistic agents,' said John. 'Six agents with a lot of free time on their hands.'

'We had to do it, as nobody listened to our pleas,' said Jules.

The six of them walked away and left the Baffled Seven standing at the gate.

Paul moaned as someone barged into his room.

'Rise and shine Bear, you've had your eight hours of sleep. Time for school,' exclaimed Mia.

'Do I have to? I just conned Kerry into giving us a week off of stupid things.'

'Yes and afterwards we're going to the dojo and do some endurance training, as you still need to get your next belt in karate and you still can't even touch me with a bokken, something even Francis was able to do. Now get up or I start using a ruler.'

'Sheesh, I'll get up, just give me a minute.'

Mia smacked him on the left buttock with a ruler.

'That hurts! Alright, I'm up, I'm up.'

'See you in ten minutes, Bear,' said Mia before kissing him gently on the nose.

She smiled as she left the room. Bear noticed he wasn't wearing nothing but his underwear.

After school, Mia and Paul went directly towards the dojo. Normally Chloë was supposed to be already there as she tutored a advanced class of karate at the end of the day. The two got changed quickly and continued into the actual dojo.

There they witnessed the final moments of the lesson. Ten black belts trying to defeat on another. A sharp noise screeched in the air.

'That's it for today. The ones that which to see a demo of some armed action are welcome to stay,' she announced with a grin as she saw Paul and Mia standing at the door.

To Paul's dismay only five people left the dojo.

'Lets get started shall we,' said Chloë as she gave Paul some protective gloves and leg pads.

'Could you please get rid of them? It's not really helping.'

'Come on Bear. Let them see three fights. I'll make'em leave so they don't see you getting your ass kicked by moi.'

'Thanks.'

Mia gave him a bokken as she took out her personal sword.

'Beginning stance please,' she announced.

Paul placed his feet ten inches apart and held the bokken firmly with both hands. He faced Mia and awaited further instructions.

'Defensive stance number four, bokken in left hand. Three strikes, then you may attack at will.'

Paul shot her a pleading look, but she ignored it and waited until he finally complied. He bent his left knee, while stretching the right leg. With the bokken in his left hand, he held the blade so that his torso and leg were protected from the blows.

Without a warning the first blow landed on the wooden blade. Paul gritted his teeth as the impact placed strain on his hand.

'Two.'

Again a perfect hit, more strain. More pain.

The third strike, again came unannounced. Paul endured the impact, but dropped the sword when the pain became too much.

'Fuck that hurts,' he blurted out.

'That's because you didn't exercise your left hand, like I asked you. You use your right hand too much,' said Mia. 'But fair is fair, lets fight Righty.'

'You said it,' he smiled.

Both assumed the beginning stance and bowed towards each other. Mia was the first to move by releasing the sword with her right hand and holding it next to her body with her left hand. She smiled.

Paul grasped his sword with his right hand and charged towards Mia. He swung the sword towards her, but failed to hit her. In retaliation, she poked him hard in the chest.

'Never open up your defences,' said Chloë to her class. 'Doesn't matter if armed or unarmed.'

Paul got the message and kept the sword closer to his body and awaited her move. Mia advanced and attacked with a quick and sharp move. Paul blocked and pushed Mia back. It earned him a congratulatory nod. He took the sword with both hands and moved forwards to land a heavy strike. Mia saw it coming and prepared for the impact. She raised the sword above her head. Paul reacted by releasing the sword from his right hand and striking her using his left hand. Mia was so surprised that she fell down and starting breathing heavily.

'We're done for the today,' she managed to blurt out between gasps. She congratulated him.

Paul helped her get up and onto a bench. Chloë handed her a bottle of water with Mia gladly accepted.

'Now class is dismissed for all of you,' said Chloë with a no nonsense tone. 'Scram.'

As the last person left the dojo, Chloë dragged a reluctant Paul back to the tatami. He finally got his purple belt, although it left him with several bruises and severe muscle aches.

Later that day Mia and Paul were sitting on her bed, in her room. They just had taken a shower and were wearing bathrobes.

'Don't eat those,' said Mia when Paul went for a red M&M. 'Eat the blue ones. You can have those.'

Paul sulked as he stuck a blue one in his mouth and stared at Mia who looked at him with a smile.

'You did great today, you know that right?' she said while coming closer.

'I guess so,' he replied.

They looked each other in the eyes and kissed. Gently they started undressing. Paul slid his hand over Mia's torso. Mia did the same. At the same time they backed off with a pained look on their face. Curses flew across the room.

'I think I cracked a rib,' said Mia.

'My entire body aches. Damn that purple belt.'

They laughed and kissed again.

Without warning the door was opened and Kerry walked in.

'Mia, just another reminder... Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I'll come back later,' she rambled. As soon as she had entered, Kerry had left.

The two stared at the empty doorway and bursted into laughs.

'We need to talk,' said Chloë while she, Mia and Jules were in her room. 'About you and Paul.'

'What about me and Paul?' she asked.

'Well, are you thinking of going all the way? You know...'

'God Chlo!,' she bursted. Mia stared Mia and Jules in the eyes and sighed. 'I don't know. I think so, yes, but it too soon right?'

'Hell yes!'exclaimed John. The boys were sitting in Francis' room. 'If you do it now, you might regret it. We're fourteen for fuck sake. Legal age is sixteen, Bear. If you do it and someone finds out, you both are in deep shit.'

Paul sighed. 'It's not something that has to be done right now, but I think we both would like to grow in our relationship.'

'That can be achieved without the you know,' said Francis. 'Let it rest for now and just get to know each other a bit more before doing it.'

'Okay, you've made your point, but how is it going for you guys? And don't give me those what the fuck looks. John, you and Jules? Francis, I know of Scylla27.'

'Scylla27?' asked John.

'It's this girl on campus. We met on the internal network. And we've been in contact ever since. It been going on since we got back from London. But let us first listen to John and Jules.'

'Okay,' said Jules. 'John and I have been doing things together lately. But before you conclude anything, we haven't even kissed yet. It's complicated.'

'Come on Jules, spill the beans.'

'Fine. We've been doing some training and exercises together. Yesterday we went for a swim. It's just John is a nice guy, but he's the oldest member in the team isn't it weird?'

'Nope,' said Paul. 'Just ask her out for some romantic relax date.'

'And how do I do that,' asked John. 'We're like completely surrounded by fences.'

'Just ask him if he wants to go to the hot tubs after an intensive workout,' said Mia. 'worked for us.'

'Fine, I'll ask her,' sighed John. 'Now back to Scylla27.'

'We've been chatting for a couple of weeks now. There's definitely a connection between us. She's pretty witty and funny.'

'You haven't met her yet? Have you tracked her? Room or phone number?'

'No. I actually don't want to do that. It's just...'

'We get it Francis,' said John with a smile. 'She doesn't know either and you're happy because you think she might not see you as the guy she has been talking to, but Francis the autist.'

'Hey, if you're ready to tell her, we'll be there to back you up,' said Paul.

'Thanks you guys. Wanna go do something? I'm bored.'

'Can we go eat? I'm starving,' said Paul.

'Sure.'

Not soon after they had taken their seat, the boys got joined by the girls. They ate in an uncomfortable silence. Gazes flew across the table.

'So what have you been up to this afternoon?' said Chloë. 'We haven't seen you since like four.'

'Nothing much, just discussing guy things,' answered Paul. 'You?'

'Same. We talked about girl things,' said Mia. 'Nothing for the boys.'

'Cool,' said John.

The team continued eating in silence.

Kerry flipped through the pages and raised her eyebrows on several occasions. She replaced the document back on the desk and watched Zara and John Jones who were waiting for her answer.

'This is quite the mission. Not that they wouldn't be able to succeed, but it's about the fact that they have to be separated for it.'

'It's just how it is Kerry. This is a mission that only requires the boys' abilities. I need the girls for the other mission.'

'Alright, I'll go break the news. They might not take it that well.'

Zara nodded and Kerry vanished.

The Delta's were sitting on a grass patch. Kerry marched towards them.

'Hi guys.'

'Hi. What brings you here? It's not about you know right?' asked Mia.

'No no. It's about your second mission.'

'Awesome, it was about time. We're bored,' said Chloë.

'The fact is Chloë that the mission I am talking about is only for the boys. You girls will receive yours in a day of two.'

The six didn't react and only stared at her.

'You're splitting us up?' asked Francis. 'But we're a team. Six members, remember.'

'I know that Francis, but this is how it will be,' said Kerry. 'I need the three of you in the mission building in two hours. Use the time to prepare a pack and say goodbye. You're leaving at eleven.'

Without another word she turned around and left.