"And…it's…DONE!"
A glimmer of sunlight reflected off the vial's surface. The contents within it sat still, rings forming upon the jolting movements of the kick out table stand. The plane was alit with broad daylight, heat against its many windows.
Walter put on a big smile and leaned back, looking at his finished product.
"What's done?"
"The serum! It's finally finished!" the teen exclaimed, gesturing to the glass. "It took me weeks. And now, it's there – in all its glory." He glanced at his spy partner, beaming.
Lance looked away from his screen, pausing his calculations on the hovering map. His eyes turned to the vial. "Oh, what is it exactly? More bird enhancement juice?"
"Actually, no! Well, it's something evolutionary, something the agency would be very interested in looking at!" Walter picked up the glass, peering at the rich blue color of the serum. "This is the next level of spy tech, Lance…"
"I'm sure it is," Lance replied, and he couldn't help but chuckle as he returned his attention to the screen. Walter was always coming up with new inventions by what seemed like every next week. There has been so many times Lance would come home and find the kid working up late at night on an experiment. He'd tell him to sleep, that was more important. The last thing the teen needed was to be nodding off during a special agency meeting and have Ms. Jenkins catch him.
"Alright." The vial was lifted from its holder, and at the top, a bottle cap was fitted into its place. "I'll test it out when we get back home – I'm so excited to try it!" He turned to the seat on his right, closest to the window, and hid the serum filled container inside.
"Well? What exactly was the intent behind all of this?" Lance asked now, raising a brow, curious as to what it really was.
Walter gave him a smug grin. "You'll have to wait until we get home for that."
Lance opened his mouth, ready to give a series of ongoing complaints, but paused as a flare of red light appeared on the hovering screen in front of him, a beeping in sync. It brought both of their attention to it.
Warning – System interference – Altitude: 30,000, 29,789…
Lance's voice caught in his throat, and Walter froze in his seat, staring at the screen with widened eyes, as if he was in shock.
"Aw crap, aw crap, what?!" Lance said, his fingers quick to tap against the screen. All the displays were red, no longer emitting blue, transparent hues.
A vibration within the plane's core spread out amongst the floor and seats, sending a sensation of imbalance. The young teen twisted to look out the window, and he gripped the arm rests hard as he noticed the clouds were going up and they were going down.
"Oh no, oh NO!" Walter squeaked, shooting up from his seat and almost hitting the top of his head against the ceiling. "Lance, uh, you better be quick with that! Do you know how to fix it? Has this happened before?"
Lance frowned, shaking his head but continuing to stare at the screen, trying to find the source of the problem in a hurry. "I'm trying to be quick, and no, this has never happened before…!"
Great, they were going to die in a plane. That's how spies usually did it, he guessed.
The thoughts of how this could possibly happen to his plane was clashing against his thoughts.
"Oh I swear if the agency didn't do a maintenance on the jet – I swear!" Lance hissed, sparing a glance at the window on his side. They were losing altitude, way too fast—
The plane shook again, as if something from outside had smashed into it, a rumbling sound coming from the bottom of the floor.
"Laaance, the plane!"
"I'm working on it!"
"Work on it faster!"
Suddenly, the vibrations stopped. The feeling was empty, as if their bodies went numb. It was quiet in the plane, awfully quiet—
The hover screen flashed again, a white exclamation mark at the center, and an alarm rang out.
Systems Offline
Both partners stared at each other with widened eyes.
Walter had to hold back a scream, because if he learned anything from being an agent for the past year, it was to never panic. Stay cool, stay cool.
Lance cursed under his breath, his hands pressing against a screen that would not respond to his requests. It was pointless; it was showing nothing other than the flashing mark, the altitude (which was dropping like birds out of the sky), and the redness that was starting to bother his eyes.
He turned away, leaning against the back of his chair and reaching underneath. The look on his face did not help at all, and it came to Walter's realization that what his friend was looking for was not there.
"Looks like we don't have parachutes—"
Walter was starting to see that Lance was growing panicked.
He looked down the aisle, trying to think of what they could do. "Wait, Lance!" Walter breathed, jabbing a finger at some direction down the aisle. "The emergency exit!" He wasn't sure why he said it, it just came out simply, but an idea formed in his mind. He blinked a couple of times, a picture of the serum crossing his mind.
Well, that was one idea.
But what if it doesn't work? It might not even work and—
Well, it was the only option they had, that was for sure.
"Lance, the emergency exit – we have to open it!" Without waiting for an immediate response, he stood from his seat and took a single step out of the aisle, reaching over towards the window's side and grabbing his bag quickly. He pulled out the serum from before, stashed it away in his pocket, and zipped it back closed.
"What? Boy – are you crazy?!" Lance answered, shock written all over his face. "You wanna do what now?"
"The only way out is through there, it's our only chance of survival!" Looking back forward, Walter was already making his way down the aisle, and as he reached the midsection of the aisle and door exit, he turned his gaze, watching the other agent near.
"If we open that door, we're going to get sucked out and die!"
"Well, if we stay in here, we'll die," Walter replied, and he waved his hands placatingly. "Lance, trust me! I have an idea, I, I think it'll work!"
Lance stared at him, uncertainty in his eyes. But, he had no counter argument for this one. He had no choice but to agree.
"Alright, then, Walter…" Lance sighed, swallowing thickly. "Let's do this."
Walter nodded. There was only one more thing he had to say before they proceeded.
"First, you're gonna have to turn into your pigeon form."