All right everyone. THank you for all the reviews, they made me really happy (as always). It seems like the majority of you do read my author's notes, which makes me incredibly happy. It was even better readin 'for the love of cheesy tacos' over and over in reviews. It made me laugh. To make up for that long stretch of time in which I did not update this story (Once again, I'm really really really sorry about that), I wrote a super long chapter for you. The longest one in this entire story in fact! Yay! It's pretty intense. A lot happens including some of our favorite characters. And we get to see the fatherly side of my personal favorite character. Oh joys. So yea, anyways, here's the chapter and I really hope you like it!
All has been going well for us since the night of the dance. We hardly even feel the need to bring our comms units to class. But we do anyways. We spend just about all of our free time with Michael, much to the annoyance of our other neighbor Dustin Walker and his buddies (hehe, foreshadowing.)
Michael and I are walking to class together just like always. He holds my hand in his and I swing it back and forth. He chuckles. We stop outside the COW classroom.
"Well, this is my stop. Later Mikkie," He says, smiling sweetly at me. He leans down and kisses my cheek, causing me to blush bright pink. He smirks and disappears into the classroom.
From that point on, I walk down the hall on my own. COW is on practically the opposite end of the building from Culture and Assimilation, so I'm the only one who walks this way.
I look at my watch and see that I'm running late. I take off sprinting through the hall towards class. I turn a corner and what I see makes me jump back out of sight. Oh crap. Not now. I fumble for the comms unit in my pocket and attach it to my ear.
"Guys, we're seriously in some deep shit." I whisper into the comms unit as I run in the opposite direction as fast as I can. "Our parents are here." I get a response almost instantly.
"Yea, that information would've been useful about ten minutes ago," Lexi replies. I'm far enough from where I saw my dad and Grandpa Joe that I can speak out loud.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Hey Mikkie, how's my favorite Goode?" I hear someone say in the back ground. Bex.
"Hey! I'm standing right here you know!" That voice is unmistakeably my father's. Man, he moves fast!
"I know, that's why I said it!"
"Sorry Mikkie, they got me on the way to class." Lexi apologizes.
"It's okay, I mean, we've still got Tara and Casey and me," I say. Suddenly I hear grunting, groaning, kicking, and screaming.
"Put me down daddy, put me down!" Tara shrieks.
"A little help here," Nick says, groaning.
"Well, we still have me and Casey." I adjust my statement.
"And our secret weapon!" Tara shouts.
"What's that?" I hear Michael's voice.
"You Michael!" Casey whispers into the comms she just turned on.
"Who the hell is that?" My dad asks angrily.
"No one daddy," I answer sweetly.
"I'm not no one."
"Doesn't sound like no one to me," My dad says bitterly.
"Michael," I say warningly.
"Yo Princess! Use the code names, we made them up for a reason! It's 007," He corrects me.
"Fine. Double oh idiot, shut the fuck up!"
"Oh, right, sorry." His comms unit goes silent.
"C'mon Mikkie, let's end this. Come home!" I hear my mom.
I'm silent for a few seconds then say firmly, "Did you go home when dad first asked you?" She's quiet.
"You know about that?"
"Yup. Bye mom." I remember something Michael had told me. Now that they have Lexi and Tara's comms units, they can use them to track me. I rip the comms unit off my ear, throw it to the ground, and stomp on it. I pull a walkie talkie out of my backpack. "Man I missed this thing." I pick up the comms unit's crushed
As I run I hear footsteps pounding behind me. I look back and see Liz running to catch up to me. Liz? Really? That's the best they can do? Liz is nice and a super genius and everything, but, well, let's just say there's a reason she's a hacker and not an operative.
"Mikkie! You're coming back to your parents right now!" she tells me. I shake my head.
"Sorry, but I don't think so Liz," I say. Grabbing her hand, I flip my friend's mom over my head. I pull some tape out of my backpack and duct tape her mouth shut. Due to my lack of ropes, I take the shoelaces out of the sneakers I use in P&E to tie her hands and feet together. "Liz, if you guys catch me, remember that I'm really, really sorry!" She tries to yell something but it's muffled.
I start running down the hall again. After a few minutes I'm out of breath. And I'm still nowhere near the Entrance Hall. I stop for a few seconds to rest. Big mistake. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a dark figure in the shadows walking toward me.
"Hello Mikkie. How's my girl?" There. THey finally send a challenge! Sending Liz was just an insult to my fighting abilities.
"All right Cameron," I reply. My mom raises an eyebrow at me.
"Oh, so I'm Cameron now, am I?" She asks.
"Yea, you are." She grabs my wrist.
"Come on, you are in big trouble little missy." She says sternly. I try to shake free from her grip.
"Let go of me!" I screech. I finally slide my hand free and make a break for it. She grabs my shoulder and pulls me back. Without thinking, I spin around and puch her in thestomach. My mom doubles over and I clap my hand to my mouth. "Mom, I am so sorry! It was just a reflex!"
"That's it." She mutters. She picks me up and throws me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
I pound my fists on her back and scream, "PUt me down, put me down!" in my best imitation of Tara. I yank her hair. I scream bloody murder until my eardrums threaten to burst. If anything, all it does is irritate my mom. I hear footsteps approaching.
"Zach! A little help over here!" My mom calls.
"Oh good, you got her," He says, sounding relieved.
"Yea, but she won't sit still!"
"Here let me help." My dad says. He walks over to us and picks me up off my mom's shoulder. I take this as my golden opportunity and dig my sharpened finger nails deeply into his skin until he drops me. Then I kick him where the sun don't shine and flip my mom over my head. Or, try to anyway. She readjusts her weight onto her back foot and stays grounded. Instead, I punch her in the gut again and take off running away from them. When I get to the end of the hall, I stop and turn to face them.
"Just so we're clear, I really didn't want to do that!" I shout to them. THen I take off again. After ten of fifteen minutes of sprinting all out, I feel safe enough to slow to a walk again. We're home free baby! I think. Suddenly, my walkie talkie crackles to life.
"Mikkie? Mikkie are you there?" Casey asks.
"Yea I'm here." I answer, still panting slightly from all the running I just did.
"Good. I would've tried to talk through comms but-" I cut her off.
"It's fine. I broke my comms unit so they couldn't use Lexi's and Tara's to track me down." I explain.
"Good thinking."
"Yea, well, they don't seem to be having any trouble finding me anyway. So far, I've already had to fight off your mom and both of my parents. If I see your mom again, or if you do, I need to make sure to apologize again. It was really sucky. I'm still free though. How're you holding up?" I ask.
"I've been compromised. Bex found me. Maybe I could've fought off Nick or Macey or my parents, and that's a big maybe, but definitely not Bex." she says. "I'm really sorry Mikkie."
"It's fine. I don't think any of us could've escaped Bex on our own. But how are you talking to me if you've been compromised?"
"I'm hiding in the bathroom. They took my comms but they didn't know about the walkie talkie. They've set up base in our dorm room. They're hoping you'll show up to go to bed or change clothes or disguises, or get your stuff and leave." Casey says.
"They really think I'm that stupid?" I ask in disbelief.
"Not stupid, naive," she corrects me. "And the last time they saw you, you would have been naive enough to fall for a trick like that."
"True dat," I admit.
"I gotta go. I can't be in the bathroom too much longer without them getting suspicious. There's only two things they could suspect and neither one is good." she says. I don't have any idea what the second option is. Upon thinking a little bit about it, I realize I probably really don't want to know. "Be careful, and whatever you do, do not go anywhere near our dorm room. That's some bad mojo!" She warns.
"Got it. Bye, catch ya later." The connection between the two walkie talkies goes dead as she turns hers off. I walk around the hallways of the Gallagher Academy until I can finally see the balcony overlooking the Entrance Hall. I breathe a sigh of relief. I never thought I'd be so glad to see a random stone balcony that is seemingly pointless. I'm about to run when someone's (most likely an adult's) strong arm locks around my waist and clamps their large hand over my mouth.
"Hi ya Mikster! Guess what, it's your favorite uncle, come to take you back to your parents!" He takes his hand off my mouth. I can easily tell that it's Grant, but I decide that it couldn't hurt to mess with him a little bit.
"Jonas?" I pretend to guess teasingly. I don't have to see his face to know that he's scowling at my joke.
"Haha, very funny. Play time's over pal, you're going home young lady," He says seriously.
"No way!" I protest.
"Yes way. Come on. You are coming with me." He starts leading me down the hall towards the staircase to the floor with the dorms. I try to stop, but he just keeps pushing me forward.
"No! I won't go, I won't!" I yell, sounding like a little girl throwing a tantrum. He chuckles.
"Oh, yes you will. You don't have a choice. And there's nothing you can do about it," he tells me. Now he's just making me really angry (like, angrier than I already was.) I dig my heels into the wooded floor to try to make harder to move me. It slows his progress a little bit, but not nearly enough. He's practically dragging me down the hall now.
"Let me go Grant!" I start threatening him now, even though I know it's not going to do anything for my situation. And I don't exactly know how I can threaten him. "Let me go or so help me God I swear I'll-I'll..." I stumble with words, at a loss for creative ways that I could hurt him. Grant just chuckles some more.
"Or you'll do what?" He laughs.
"I'll... I'll bite you!" I yell the first thing that pops into my head. It sounds weird, but I can't take it back, and I can't think of anything better. To prove my point, I grab his hand and chomp down on it, sinking my teeth as deeply into it as I can. I may be wrong, but I think I might have drawn blood. WHoops. He jumps back, groaning and shaking his hand rapidly in the air.
"You bit me!" He hollers in shock. Huh. Not exactly the most conventional way to escape from a captor, but quite effective. I would highly suggest it if you're ever in a similar situation. "Bex! Bex, Mikkie bit me!" I hear footsteps growing closer to us. Oh crap. If Grant's wife shows up, I'm in even deeper shit than I already was. I sprint towards the edge of the balcony and launch myself off the side. It's not until I'm in the air that I remember how high up the balcony is. I begin to plummet 20 or 30 feet towards my inevitable doom (or at least a broken leg), arms and legs flailing wildly as I go. As the ground becomes closer I squeeze my eyes shut and cover my head with my arms, preparing for impact. The ground is a lot softer than I would have thought. Carefully, I open one eye, then the other and put my arms down. i see that I've been caught just in time by our dear sweet Michael.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Yea. Nice timing," I say as he gently sets me down on my feet. He shrugs.
"It's a gift," he replies, smirking and quoting Lexi. We both start running at the exact same time, but in different directions. I go to the doors while he runs toward the hallway.
"Where are you going?" I ask curiously. "The doors are right here."
"I've already tried the doors. They're both locked from the outside, and I don't think we have time to pick teh lock," he tells me.
"Great." I mutter. We run through the hall, the killer secret passageway long forgotten. After a few seconds, he decides to break the silence.
"I saw Grant Newman heading your way about ten minutes ago. I tried to warn you, but you weren't replying, it sounded like the line had gone dead. Did your comms stop working?"
"Yea, about that..." My voice trails off. I reach into my pocket and pull out the crushed pieces of the comms unit, then hand them to him.
"It's dead. You killed it." He states lifelessly.
"Sorry," I apologize.
"You killed my baby!" He cries. He looks way more upset than he should be. His reaction makes me think of Liz and Jonas.
"Mike, focus. Now is not the time for your weird, nerdy nervous breakdown." I tell him.
"Right. Got it. Good point. It can wait." He shoves what's left of the comms unit in his pocket. "Out of sight, out of mind," he mumbles to himself.
"So where are we going if the doors are locked? I really have to get out of here. My parents and my friends' parents are all looking for me. I can't run around like this forever, I have to leave or they'll find me."
"I figure we can go to that passageway we take to get to the P&E barn and exit through the barn. From there all we have to do is avoid security and hop the gate." He explains to me.
"And if that's locked too?" I ask. He shrugs.
"We're just gonna have to cross that bridge when we get to it." I nod. I guess that's all we can do.
We keep running, never slowing down. We run past classrooms, drinking fountains, the occasional student or teacher who would then give us weird looks. Nothing can stop us now. "I know that they got to Tara and Lexi, which is surprising, but what happened to Casey?" He asks me. "Her comms unit went silent a little bit after your's did."
"Casey was compromised." I explain sadly.
"Her too? By who?"
"Bex Newman. Or, as she's better known, Bex Baxter." I say simply. Michael's eyes widen to the point of threatening to pop out of his head.
"You know Bex Baxter! Dude, she's an MI6 legend!" He says in shock. I nod, giving him a weird look.
"Yea, I know her. She's Lexi's mom," I tell him. He looks like he can't decide whether to be excited, impressed, or afraid for his life. All emotions that many people associate with Bex.
"Great. She's a bad person to have chasing after you." He mutters. We run in silence for a while.
We turn a corner down the hall with the elevator to the Covert Operations classroom (or at least that's where I'm told that is. You have to be in at least sophomore year to take that class.) We get about halfway when someone else enters the hall, blocking our way. We skid to a halt. In our way are my mom, Grandpa Joe, Macey, and Bex. My aunts look from me to Michael and smirk. Both give me two thumbs up and mouth "He's cute!" Michael sees and smirks, making me blush bright pink. Then we both remember why we're here. We start backing away slowly. Suddenly, Michael gets hoisted into the air. I turn to him and see my dad glaring dangerously at him, holding him up by the collar of his shirt.
"Mikkie," he says, struggling to keep his voice calm, "what is this?"
"His name is Michael Roberts daddy," I say in a sickly sweet voice. Then I think of the most perfect, spectacular way to annoy my over-protective dad. I go up onto the tips of my toes and give Michael a big kiss on the cheek. Now it's his turn to turn pink (a very manly shade of pink of course.) Across the hall, Liz (who has just showed up a few seconds ago) Macey, Bex, Aunt Abby (who also just showed up), and even my mom give me a thumbs up and smile. My friends, who are all being held captive by their own mothers, start snickering at Michael's reaction. Grandpa Joe, Grant (who is now standing behind us), Nick (also standing behind us), Jonas (also also standing behind us) and my dad look angry and are glaring at Michael like teh protective men of the family that they are. My dad is red and practically shaking with rage. I can almost see the steam coming out of his ears. He puts an arm around me, partly to warn Michael to stay away and partly to tell me that I'm gonna be grounded until I'm in my forties.
"It's over Mikkie. Come on, we're going home." My mom says. THis time, I don't try to fight against them as they guide me out of the building.
Wow, so much action. More than any part of the story. Now there are a few things I need to bring up before you start complaining in your reviews about it, which I know someone will want to.
1. It's not impossible for her to get away from them all the time. She incapacitates them for a short period of time and then she ran away while she had the chance. She never actually fought them.
2. The reason she was able to incapactiate them so easily is that despite the fact that they are highly trained spies, they are her parents and pretend aunts and uncles. THey wouldn't fight her out of the fear that they would accidentally hurt her.
3. I know that there probably isn't a balcony in the Gallagher Academy, but I needed one and so there was one.
There, I think that that pretty much takes care of everything.
Michael: WHat about me? I need protection! They're out to get me!
Hammsters: Who's out to get you?
Michael: They are! (points to very angry red in the face Zachary Goode and Joseph Solomon)
Joe: I thought I warned you about staying away from my granddaughter
Zach: Blackthorne Boy are you? I don't like it. I don't like it at all. You shall stay away from my daughter, or I shall use what they taught me at Blackthorne to my advantage. Mwahahahahahaha!
Michael: Aaaaah! Mikkie! HELP! ( Runs away with Joe and Zach on his tail.)
Mikkie: Michael's a great guy, but I will not be facing the wrath of Zachary Goode or Joseph Solomon any time soon. He will be missed. I'll be sure to attend his funeral.
Hammsters: Wow. You're so brave Mikkie *sarcasm* Anyways, everyone who is reading this, you would be my bestest friend for life if you review this chapter and respond to this poll. And Michael will personally show up to your house and give you a big fat hug, you know you want one.
Michael: (taking a break from running from Zach and Joe) It's true. Everyone wants me to hug them.
Hammsters: Okay, he may be egotistical, but whatever. I also won't let them kill Michael if you review. Plus, I'll give you a sneak peek of the sequel! That's right, I already have one planned out. I would prefer to get at least ten reviews for a chapter like this. So please review and respond to my poll!