The MI High team have moved on to their adult training. Can they become a successful adult team ? It's been a while, so hopefully a longer chapter will make up for it.
So when did KORPS get into recycling ?
"Wow, this thing is off the scale," muttered Mike.
Tom sighed. Reluctantly he wandered over to look at Mike's equipment screen. It showed a massive spiky signal leaping about. There was a kind of rhythm to it. Tom frowned. "What is this thing supposed to do ?" he asked, taking the box from Mike.
"Haven't a clue," said Mike. "It was just one of the boxes that looked like the right sort of kit, according to Frank," he explained with a shrug.
Tom checked the settings. It was measuring "Electromagnetic pulse strength" according to the menu. He looked at the reading again. "Artie, what do you reckon would make an electromagnetic pulse this big ?" he asked.
Artie looked over Tom's shoulder. "Hm ! I dunno," he said, frowning. "Maybe some big electromagnet type of thing, or maybe an atom bomb or something," he suggested.
"It's got a pattern," pointed out Tom.
"Okay ! So lots of little atom bombs," suggested Artie with a grin. "Alright, I don't have a clue," he admitted.
"Would that be something unexpected then ?" asked Mike.
"Yes, it would," admitted Tom. He sighed. "Alright, let's try to work out where it's coming from," he said. "Point it where it seems strongest."
Mike did as he was told and pointed towards a door at the end of the corridor, marked 'No Access. Strictly Authorised Personnel Only' "That'll be it," he said.
Tom felt a knot of fear growing in his stomach. "Yeah. That's bound to be it," he agreed.
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Keri and Aneisha walked carefully through an empty area. Conveyor belts were carrying random pieces of plastic and paper around a large room. At the centre of the room was a large piece of machinery encased in a glass box. A few people dressed in the same protective clothing as themselves were standing in front of consoles and staring into the enclosed area at the centre of the room. The two agents glanced at one another. Aneisha pointed towards the workers. Keri nodded. She closed her eyelids carefully, allowing the eyelash camera to take a photograph of the scene in front of them. This had to be where the action was ! There were a couple of clip boards lying on a desk nearby. Aneisha picked them up and handed one to Keri. "Camouflage," she hissed at the other girl.
The two agents walked purposefully through the facility, looking carefully at the equipment they passed. Keri took a series of photographs of any control panel she came across while also taking shots across the factory floor. "What do you think they're doing ?" she hissed at Aneisha.
"I don't know, maybe some sort of recycling plant ?" she suggested.
"KORPS ? Recycling ?" asked Keri in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know ! It's crazy !" agreed Aneisha.
As they walked around a tall group of machines, they found themselves coming up behind a group of workers, also dressed like themselves in protective clothing. One of the workers glanced around at the two young women, but then returned to work. Keri craned to see what the workers were doing and one glanced around in annoyance. Hastily Keri ticked a random area on her clipboard papers and smiled at the person in front of her. "Good work," Keri said encouragingly. Aneisha rolled her eyes at Keri and nodded at her to walk away.
As they stepped away as casually as they could, they were met by two more people dressed in protective overalls, also carrying clip-boards. They stared at one another in consternation until Keri's eyes met a familiar pair of blue eyes in front of her and she winked. The startled eyes smiled back at her. "Hi !" said Keri, weakly waving her hand at Dan and Laura. Aneisha then caught on and relaxed, as did Laura and Dan.
"Hey ! Where are your radiation badges ?" demanded an angry voice. They all turned to face a woman pointing to a small green badge pinned to her chest. "You shouldn't be in here without them. And what is this, some kind of supervisor convention or something ?" she demanded. "What are you all doing in here ?" Suspiciously she stared into Keri's eyes. "Makeup's a bit heavy don't you think ?" she asked snappily, noticing Keri's thick black eye-lashes and not realising they were a hidden camera.
They all turned around as more people suddenly appeared, their footsteps disguised by the noise of the room's machinery. "Oh ! Hi !" said Artie, followed by Tom and Mike. They were all dressed in their regular electrical testing disguises.
"What in heaven's name do you think you are doing in here ?" yelled the now furious KORPS employee. "This is a restricted area ! The doors are clearly marked, and how did you get access in any case ? I'm calling security !" she shouted. Her shouts attracted the attention of the other workers who stopped what they were doing to find out what all the fuss was about. One of them reached out and pressed a large red button. Klaxons started to blare out and red lights flashed.
"Time to go !" shouted Dan.
"This way !" shouted Tom, leading the way at a run back the way they had come. "I can get us out of here !" he yelled.
They stampeded after Tom as a group. "Have you worked out what's going on in here ?" Laura yelled to the others.
"No !" Aneisha shouted back over her shoulder.
They made it through the door that Tom's group had used to get in and he and Artie shorted out its locks to escape. Their luck started to run out as they headed out through the maze of corridors. Groups of KORPS guards attacked them and they all had to fight them off. Luckily they outnumbered each attacking group and were only slowed down a little each time as they picked off the opposition. "Nice work !" Dan panted as Laura high-kicked another KORPS agent into unconsciousness.
"Thanks !" she panted. This was going pretty well so far. Oops !
They all heard a thundering of heavy footsteps approaching from round a corner. "This way !" Aneisha hissed, pointing down a side corridor. "This is how we got in." They all followed her at speed. Tom felt pleased with himself for his improved fitness. He wasn't yet totally out of breath. He was disappointed to see that Artie was showing no signs of tiredness and was in fact out-sprinting him. Huffing, he guessed he could still lose a little weight.
The group made it out of the side door and ran for the perimeter wall. They assisted each other over the wall and looked around hurriedly. An engine was roaring closer to the end of the road. "We've got to get out of here !" shouted Mike. The all ran off down the empty road.
"But the van's the other way !" shouted Tom. Too late they realised that they were all running away from their transport and means of escape.
"I've got my car !" shouted Artie, darting into a side street. The others followed.
Only Laura spoke, "Wait, Artie !" she protested, but the others ignored her. It was only when they reached Artie's tiny car that they realised they were in trouble. "We're not all going to fit in Artie !" complained Laura.
The roaring engine and shouting was approaching the end of the road. "You'll have to !" yelled Artie in a panic, jumping into the driver's seat. The rest of the group jumped into the tiny car, squashing themselves in a best they could. The last to squeeze in, Dan lobbed a smoke grenade down the road, in time to see a motorbike carrying a pillion passenger with a large tubular device balanced on one shoulder. He didn't have time to work out what they were carrying before he hurled himself onto Laura's knees in the front seat.
"Go Artie !" shouted Dan, pulling the door shut behind him. He almost burst out laughing at the scene of arms, legs and bodies folded in around him. The car roared into life and sluggishly lurched into movement. Slowly, slowly the car moved off down the road. After three or four seconds, they had barely reached a jogging pace. "Go Artie !" Dan urged.
"I'm going man, I'm going !" yelped Artie. "It's kind of overloaded a bit man !" he admitted, desperately slamming his foot down on the accelerator pedal.
"Seriously mate ! I can run faster than this !" wailed Dan. He turned to find his lips only a couple of centimetres from Laura's nose. They both blushed in embarrassment. A shot rang out, shattering the rear window. Keri screamed.
"This is no good. We've got to get out !" shouted Dan. He pushed open his door and like a clown car, bodies spilled out into the road. Another shot rang out. "Split up ! Get out of here !" Dan shouted in desperation. Laura, Mike, Aneisha and Keri set off down a neighbouring alley. Dan grabbed Tom and pointed to the opposite alley.
"Hey, it's moving now !" yelled Artie happily, as the car came back to life, empty of passengers.
Dan glanced to the end of the road and his face froze in fright. "Get out Artie !" he yelled.
"I don't need to man ! I'll see you back at the base !" shouted Artie happily.
Tom looked at where Dan was staring and also looked scared. "Artie, get out now !" he yelled, yanking open the driver's door and grabbing Artie's arm.
"Hey man ! What's the big deal ?" shouted Artie angrily. He yelped as Dan ran round the car and with Tom's help dragged him bodily out of the car, which immediately stalled and swung into the pavement. "What is the … oh Woah !" he shouted in realisation. A man stood at the end of the street with a long tube balanced on his shoulder. It was pointing at Artie's car.
"Run !" screamed Dan. The three young men ran for their lives. A streak of flame shot out from the rocket launcher at the end of the road and a shooting piece of metal roared into Artie's little car which exploded in a giant ball of flames.
"My car ! Oh God ! My car !" screamed Artie.
"Just bloody run !" yelled Dan, "Or it'll be us next !"
The three agents were running down a back alley, surrounded on either side by the high walls and gates of the properties on either side. Dan heard the sound of the approaching motorbike over the roaring flames of Artie's burning car. He glanced around. "We're sitting ducks in this alley !" he yelled. "We need to get over one of the walls !" To his amazement, Artie leapt at the high brick wall next to him and somersaulted over the top effortlessly. Tom looked put out, but also attempted to jump to the wall, ending up dangling in mid-air, hands gripping the brickwork. Dan leapt up and hauled Tom after him, half dragging him over the top. They found themselves in a small back yard behind a tall brick building. Artie tried a door but it was locked.
"We'll have to go that way," he said, pointing to the side wall separating the neighbouring properties.
"Oh God !" panted Tom, staring up at the high brick wall in front of him.
"No worries man !" said Artie, grinning at him. He leapt on to a wooden storage bunker and then lightly leapt over the brick wall.
"Oh God !" Tom whimpered to himself, before also clambering up on to the bunker and making a much more ungainly leap to the other side. He staggered to one side on landing, but a hand grabbed his arm and kept him upright. He glanced up into Dan's concerned face.
Artie was already jumping to the top of the next wall. He glanced back over his shoulder and looked scared. "Oh shhhhhh …" he screamed, dropping hurriedly to the ground on the other side. "Get beside the gate guys ! Like quick !" he yelled from the other side of the wall. Dan and Tom looked at one another and then dived towards the gate in the back wall. They were just in time as a loud explosion erupted and the bricks of the wall where they had been standing exploded into a shower of red rubble and dust. Coughing they waved the cloud of dust out of their eyes.
"Artie ? Are you Okay ?" Tom shouted.
There was a huge hole in the wall beside them, but also in the wall opposite. A grinning face appeared in the gap. "Hey guys, I think they did us a favour man !" said Artie, pointing over his shoulder. Tom and Dan ran to the gap and looked where Artie was pointing. A corridor of gaps had been punched through all the walls of the backyards in the street. "Let's do it man !" said Artie, before running off and diving through the gap in the next wall.
"Like the man says !" said Dan with a quick grin at Tom, and they both ran after Artie at top speed.
Tom was panting by the time they reached the end of the road. They all clambered over the rubble of the much smaller hole in the last wall to be greeted by a black MI9 van. The door slid open and Aneisha waved to them. "Get in quick !" she shouted. Gratefully, the three agents jumped in and the car shot away into the traffic.
The Professor turned around from his position in the front passenger seat. "So a well planned and executed exit then ?" he asked benignly.
There was a brief silence. "Not as such," admitted Tom.