"Will you hold the line?
When every one of them has given up and given in, tell me
In this house of mine
Nothing ever comes without a consequence or cost, tell me
Will the stars align?
Will heaven step in, will it save us from our sin, will it?
'Cause this house of mine stands strong."
"That's the price you pay
Leave behind your heart and cast away
Just another product of today
Rather be the hunter than the prey."
"And you're standing on the edge face up
'Cause you're a natural
A beating heart of stone
You gotta be so cold
To make it in this world
Yeah, you're a natural
Living your life cutthroat
You gotta be so cold
Yeah, you're a natural."
- Imagine Dragons, "Natural"
December, 2016
4th year, age 16
"Stop it," Riley was repeating to herself as she walked around her room, rubbing her forehead. "Stop."
Riley had been trained from day one - for what? To be this. Unfeeling, do what she's told, actions are meaningless, etc, etc, etc. She had finally accomplished that, right? She had finally started to get praise from her mother. She'd worked her whole life to be what her mother wanted.
Don't emotionally compromise yourself.
Nothing matters more than the job.
Distance yourself from the fight.
Actions are only motions.
There is no meaning and no reason to let feelings cloud your thoughts.
Keep your heart beating steady.
Stay focused.
But it had been so long since she had felt… content. Cared about. She shook her head, words bouncing around in her brain.
It had been so long since she had felt anything.
Don't emotionally compromise yourself.
Riley breathed, flicking her wrist over to see her heartbeat steady at 94 bpm. At least she could say this wasn't riling her up.
She had one semester and one year left before she graduated. She could survive that long in this academy, doing what she was told. But after that…
She shook her head again. No looking forward. Only think about now.
Her wrist buzzed and she glanced down at the message she had received from Josh, sent to all of them.
Josh Matthews: Meet in my dorm in ten minutes.
She frowned.
Riley Matthews: Why?
Josh Matthews: We need to talk.
Maya Hart: About?
Josh Matthews: Ten minutes. Be here.
Riley heaved in a breath and headed for her bathroom, where she stared at her red-rimmed eyes in the mirror. This wasn't Topanga Matthews' daughter.
Ducking down, she splashed water over her face, rubbing her eyes hard, and then came up and grabbed a towel.
"Control yourself," she ordered her reflection, half disappointed when it didn't answer back. She turned away from the mirror to head back into her room. "I can control myself," she muttered to herself.
She was the last to show up to her brother's dorm, and entered the room with all eyes on her. She glanced around; Maya was sitting on Lucas's bed with one knee up and elbow resting on it, while Lucas was standing next to the bed. Josh was pacing in front of his bed.
This wasn't the kind of situation Riley wanted to be in; it was so minor, yet would have significant connotations. Sit next to Maya, on Lucas's bed? Sit on Josh's bed?
'You're being stupid,' Riley thought, briskly walking over to Maya and perching next to her, avoiding Lucas's gaze as she fought to keep her heart rate down.
"So?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I got our performance reports for the semester," Josh explained. He looked down at the papers he was holding in his hands. "And our team outline."
"What does that mean?" Lucas clarified.
"Every agent has a different type of job after graduation, and it dictates their entire life - where they live, who they can see, what they do at any point in time. We need to discuss this." He handed a paper to each of them, and Riley scanned it.
Elite Peach
Operations agents:
Josh Matthews - Team leader/Combat specialist - Lethality
Lucas Friar - Combat specialist - Charm
Maya Hart - Agility specialist - Seduction
Riley Matthews - Cover specialist - Naivety
Science agent:
Farkle Minkus - Biochemistry specialist
Technology agent:
Isadora Smackle - Engineering specialist
Communications agent:
Isaiah Babineaux
Operational safe house: Undetermined
"Wait, hold on," Maya was staring down at their categories, "how am I an agility specialist? I fight better than Lucas and Riley."
"And you use your agility to do it," Josh pointed out.
"And what the hell does 'seduction' mean?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrows.
Josh fell silent, looking uncomfortable.
"You're sexy," Lucas suggested bluntly. "You're blonde, you're fit, you've got," he gestured to her chest, and Maya smirked. "You're a cliche blonde beauty."
"How am I supposed to seduce someone if I'm a virgin?" Maya asked.
"I don't think you're supposed to actually sleep with them," Riley offered. She glanced down at her paper again. "Why am I noted as 'naivety'?"
"You look innocent and harmless," Lucas observed, and Riley glared at him.
"I've beat you in combat," she reminded him.
"Your harmless appearance is an asset, you can get into places you wouldn't normally be, you can catch them off guard," Lucas guessed.
"And, charm?" Riley questioned.
"I'm handsome," Lucas suggested, and Maya snorted.
"This is all very blunt, Josh," she stated.
"I didn't write them," Josh admitted. "It was sent from the top. The administrative panel, directors."
"Director," Riley murmured, staring down at her name. Her mother thought she was naive. Or at least, appeared naive.
There is no meaning and no reason to let feelings cloud your thoughts.
"As far as I can tell," Josh interrupted her thoughts, "after we graduate we're sent to a safe house off grid. We spend off days - time we aren't on assignment - at the safe house."
"Wait, hold on," Lucas interrupted, "is nobody going to address the fact that our team is named Elite Peach?"
"Well they're not going to call us 'elite specialist team of agents who are going to take you down'," Maya scoffed.
"Yeah, but Peach?" Lucas asked, crinkling up his nose.
Riley smiled a little, unconsciously. "I like it." She glanced down at her paper again. "It doesn't give us a code phrase."
"Peaches," Maya suggested. "Look, a bird."
"A pretty bird," Riley added.
"Seems too… innocent," Lucas frowned.
"Isn't that the point?" Josh pointed out.
"So, peaches?" Riley asked, and Maya smiled.
"Look at the pretty bird."
"I don't like this," Smackle informed them nervously as she shifted back and forth, pursing her lips. "I do not like this at all."
"I'm going to be watching you the whole time," Farkle promised, grabbing her hand.
"But I will not be able to see you," Smackle pointed out.
"You can hear me though," Farkle reminded her.
"What if I get hurt?" Smackle turned to Eric, who was currently calibrating her stimulator to her nerves and vitals.
"That's what Riley and Lucas are for," Eric said, not looking up.
"But how do I know that they will be able to protect me?" Smackle fretted.
"Smackle," Lucas assured her, "you'll be fine. Just focus on what you need to do, and we will do all the rest."
Riley glanced up at Lucas from where she was on the floor, zipping up her boots and shoving the legs of her pants into them.
"What about Josh and Maya?" Smackle questioned. "Where are they?"
"This is a three person mission; we don't have extraction for five," Eric explained. "And Riley and Lucas are just as well trained; they can handle it. You'll be perfectly safe." He tapped her stimulator. "Besides, you just need to remember that it isn't real. None of it is. If you ever feel really unsafe, either pull off that thing or yell out tradite. You'll immediately stop seeing and feeling the program and be out of the mock."
"But if it is not real, why do you need extraction?" Smackle protested.
"Smackle," Riley asked in disbelief, standing up, "aren't you in the department that created the mocks system?"
"I did not create the mocks system!"
"Calm down," Eric ordered, finally looking up. "Do your job."
"My job was supposed to be in a laboratory," Smackle turned to Farkle, her eyebrows creased.
"And it usually will be, but there will be times when we'll need you to disable a system, or build something in real time; something you can't do over coms. The operation agents only have a basic knowledge of science and technology courses, while you were trained specially for this type of work." Eric raised his eyebrows. "Where it might take Lucas a few days to learn how to do something and a few hours to do it in the field, you could take care of it in minutes. Think about it from an efficiency viewpoint."
"It would be more efficient," Smackle agreed uncertainly, obviously distracted by a science-y term she recognized.
"So your mission," Eric began, throwing a diagram of some machine up on the large screen from the tablet he had in his hands, "is to infiltrate an enemy base to disable their mainframe straight from the source. Riley, Lucas, you will be guarding Smackle and leading her through the base, with instructions from Farkle on coms, who will have your locations and the base layout. You will encounter enemy agents, so do your best to skirt them, or knock them out. Do not kill them; this mission is nonlethal, and once you get out of the base, strike teams will gas, raid, and take prisoners - we'll need information from them. But for the teams to access the base, you will need to disable their mainframe and place a drive into their system that will allow us to control it remotely. Smackle, you know how to disable this system and place the drive, correct?"
Smackle frowned. "Of course, sir, that is a very basic model of-"
"Great," Eric interrupted her. "Riley, Lucas, the program will give you weapons including tranquilizer guns. This is the first time you've had guns in a mock, so be prepared to use them."
Riley nodded. For the past few years, the team had done weapons training - knife, staff, arrows, and guns - but all their gun training had been with blanks and targets that moved on tracks.
"Smackle, the program will give you all of the tools you'll need to do your part as well." Eric looked each in the eye. "Ready?"
Riley took a deep breath as the room around them began to fade into the program, and she looked around to grab her bearings as she tapped her ear. "Farkle, can you hear us?"
"Loud and clear," Farkle confirmed over the coms. "You're in the back entrance of the base, you'll need to get to the basement center; that's where all their controls are housed."
Farkle guided the three teens through hallways, trying to skirt them around enemy agents, and Riley was relieved when they successfully made it to the controls.
"This is you, now, Smackle," Lucas reminded her, and she bent down and opened her bag of tools.
"I'll need some time," she notified them as she pulled open the front of the machine and scanned the wires and computer chips that were lined inside.
"We'll give you as much as we can," Lucas promised. "Riley, stay here, I'll go keep watch and be the first wall."
"Why me?" Riley couldn't help but ask. They hadn't clarified who the leader was on this mission; since Josh wasn't here, there hadn't been one.
"Because you can calm Smackle down if she starts freaking out," Lucas said, as if it was obvious. "You can calm anyone down."
Riley's mind went blank for words, but Lucas headed away before she could even think to answer. She watched him head down the hall towards the first blind corner, then she turned to see Smackle working quickly, her fingers fluttering around the internal mess that looked all the same to Riley. Smackle, though, seemed to know exactly what to unplug and cut and repurpose, and it was obvious that focusing on what she knew how to do was keeping her from getting anxious.
"How's it going?" Riley asked, keeping her eyes on the door.
"I am disabling the alarm system first and organizing a trojan horse so that their computer systems will appear to be functioning normally," Smackle explained, her dark eyebrows crinkled as she focused on the machine. "And then I will disable all systems and replace the trojan horse with this drive, after which their mainframe will stop working entirely and reset with controls remotely taken by our teams."
That made very little sense to Riley; but then again, that was why she wasn't in technology.
She paced back and forth, her hand settled on her waist where her weapons were, as her eyes flicked from Smackle to the corner where Lucas was waiting for anyone who may come their way.
"I am replacing the trojan horse now," Smackle said, "we will have about six and a half minutes while their mainframe resets, until our teams can take over controls."
There was a yell from around the corner, and Smackle jumped, her face whipping towards the corner.
"Focus on replacing the drive," Riley ordered calmly. "I'll take care of anything that might stop you."
"Lucas-"
"Lucas is our first wall, and he can stop as many as he can, but I'm your second wall." Riley pulled her tranquilizer gun out of her holster. "Replace the drive, Smackle."
Smackle whimpered a little, but she turned back to her work, her hands flying even quicker than before.
"Is it done?"
Smackle didn't answer for a second, and Riley dared a glance over to her, as she shoved something into an outlet and slammed the door shut.
"Smackle," Riley pushed.
Smackle looked up at Riley. "Done."
The lights flickered out, plunging Riley and Smackle into darkness, the only light illuminating them the various buttons on the machines around them.
"Smackle?" Riley asked.
"I didn't know the mainframe controlled the lights!" Smackle insisted frantically. "What do we do?!"
Riley closed her eyes, focusing all her senses on hearing. There were two agents heading towards Lucas; she could hear their boots on the floor. She could hear Smackle's breathing getting quicker and quicker as she began to panic.
"Smackle, calm down," Riley ordered. She opened her eyes and focused in on Smackle's, which were just barely visible under tiny blue and green lights flickering around them. "Breathe; we're getting out of here." She reached out and grabbed Smackle's hand, and when Smackle's fingers clung desperately to hers, Riley remembered how young she was.
Eric had really sent a fourteen year old into a program meant for seventeen and eighteen year olds. No wonder she was freaking out.
"Lucas," Riley said into her coms, "status?"
"Two agents heading my way, two are down. What happened to the lights?"
"They went down with the mainframe. Get out as soon as you can and meet us at the extraction point," Riley ordered. "Farkle, we're blind, can you guide us to our exit?"
"Yeah, I can do that. Go forward, I'll give you cues on when to turn," Farkle answered.
"Alright, listen to me, Smackle," Riley ordered, turning back to the girl and trying to make sure Smackle could see her eyes. "We're going to follow Farkle's directions. I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you, and whatever happens to me, you get out of the base. Do you understand?"
Smackle nodded, terrified.
Riley kept Smackle's hand clasped in hers as she moved forwards, hoping there was nothing she could trip over as she and Smackle left the controls and headed into the opposite direction that Lucas had gone, hoping to avoid the agents.
"In twenty or so feet you're going to turn left," Farkle informed them. "Then the hallway ends and you'll need to turn right about ten feet after that."
Riley pulled Smackle along behind her, one hand holding her tranquilizer gun and the other making sure Smackle didn't get lost. Amazingly, they got out without encountering anyone. However, when they met the light of day, Lucas was nowhere to be seen.
"Lucas, status?" Riley asked, pulling Smackle into a hiding place as she waited to hear back.
"Did you get Smackle out?" Lucas asked.
"We're out," Riley confirmed.
"Good. If the extraction is here, go now."
"Where are you?" Riley demanded, looking down at Smackle.
"I'll be fine; Smackle is the priority. Either I'll make it out on my own or I'll be knocked out and taken in by the strike team. Either way, I'll get out." When Riley hesitated, Lucas said, "Riley, did you hear me? Get Smackle out."
Riley cursed under her breath. "Keep me updated on coms."
"Don't we need Lucas?" Smackle asked, looking up at Riley nervously.
"Lucas is a combat specialist," Riley explained. "We need to trust his instincts that he can get out on his own." Spying the helicopter coming towards them, she nodded to Smackle. "Come on, let's go."
As she and Smackle ran towards it, the helicopter dropped a ladder and hovered. Riley pushed Smackle onto the ladder before her, watching as she climbed up into the safety of the helicopter. She sighed in relief.
Holding onto the ladder with one hand, she put her other to her ear and looked back at the base. "Lucas, status?"
"Farkle is guiding me out, but there are enemy agents around me and I'm running out of tranq bullets," Lucas explained, his breath short as he was obviously running. "We have less than three minutes until the raid, get Smackle out of here!"
"She's in the helicopter."
"Then get in with her and fly away before the strike teams go in," Lucas said. "We don't know what their attempts at defense will be."
"Lucas," Riley whispered, her eyes glassing as she stared at the base that he was still inside of us.
"Go, Riley!"
Riley's eyes flicked from the building to the helicopter above her, and the ladder she was still hanging onto. She stared back at the building, fighting her instincts.
'Get Smackle out. She's a kid. She's the priority. Lucas can handle himself.'
'Stay. You care about him, you need him. Stay. Stay.'
'Trust Lucas. Don't risk an emotional complication.'
Riley shook her head, her thoughts bouncing around once again.
We're a team.
"You're going to make it," Riley declared. Switching to single line communication, she spoke to Smackle, "Tell the pilot to go when I tell you. As soon as I say go, you go. Whether or not I or Lucas are in."
"Why wouldn't you be in?" Smackle asked, confused. "You're right here."
"I'm going back for him," Riley said, as she let go of the ladder and charged across the cement towards the base. She switched to double line with Lucas and Farkle. "Lucas, what hall are you?"
"He's four turns from the exit point," Farkle informed her.
"No," Lucas's breath cut short, "I need another way out. The hall you want me to go down is packed with agents; I only have two tranqs left."
"There's no other way out, Lucas, any other way would take you more than ten minutes and you have less than two."
Riley swallowed, racing across the cement with the sun beating down on her. "Hold out. Push through as many as possible and I'll be there in fifteen seconds." As she crossed into the dark base, she ran as fast as she could, following Farkle's directions. When she came upon the hall that Lucas was supposedly in, she stopped cold.
There were ten, maybe twenty men in the hallway, and although three or four were already down, Lucas was being attacked from all angles
Riley cursed under her breath and pulled out her tranquilizer gun, aiming at the nearest guards and firing, hitting each one squarely in the back of the neck. She took down a good five or six before they started to realize she was there, but she was too far in to run. Already, they were turning away from Lucas and focusing on her.
"Riley, what the hell are you doing here?" Lucas demanded.
"Shut up and watch your six," she called over the agents' heads, and he did as told.
Taking down the agents was actually much easier than she thought, and when there were only a few left she reached out and grabbed Lucas's arm, pulling them away from the hall and leading him out as fast as she could. When they reached the exit, they took off on a dead sprint towards where the helicopter was still hovering.
"Strike teams go in in ten seconds," Farkle warned. "We don't know what their defense attempts will be."
Riley switched to all lines. "Smackle, we're almost there. Hold on."
"Hurry!"
As they reached the ladder Riley shoved Lucas in front of her, but he grabbed her and pulled her up onto the ladder in front of him in a way that left no room for discussion. As she began to climb, Lucas grabbed her gun from her waist above him and stayed hanging on the bottom of the ladder, his hand latched onto the rungs.
"Smackle, tell the pilot to go now!" He ordered, as Riley climbed into the helicopter and they rose up into the sky, Lucas still hanging down on the ladder, aiming and shooting at various targets.
The program began to fade away, and Riley found herself on top of one of the platforms with Smackle sitting beside her, Lucas a little ways down on the ladder that was anchored to the side of the block.
"Well done," Eric called, and Lucas jumped down from the ladder, reaching up to help Smackle down as she began to climb towards the floor.
Riley followed, and as Smackle ran towards Farkle, who was sitting near the front of the room, Lucas grabbed her waist and set her down on the floor, skipping the last few rungs.
Riley blew some hair out of her face, glancing down at her wristband. 108 bpm.
She looked back at Lucas, who stared at her with a little frown between his brows.
"I told you to go, Riley," he reminded her as he began to walk towards Eric, her following.
"You were trapped," Riley pointed out, "and we're a team."
"Your priority was Smackle, she's just a kid," he disapproved.
"Smackle was safe," Riley returned indignantly. "You don't leave a team member behind. I knew I could get to you in time, and I knew you needed me. I trusted my instincts."
"And it was the right thing to do," Eric praised as they approached him. He glanced between them. "You kept your priority, but also followed your instincts and didn't leave your partner behind. You also predicted Lucas's thoughts and actions, used real-time potential risk and outcome analysis, and completed your mission. You all did very well."
Riley pulled off her stimulator and placed it on the wall as she left the mock course, Lucas following.
"You didn't leave me behind," Lucas repeated Eric's words as he came up behind her, jogging to keep up.
"No, I didn't," Riley agreed, not looking at him.
But had she gone back for him because it was the right thing to do for the mission?
Or because there was an emotional string beginning to tie itself between them?
A/N: Yikes this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be.
Riley is really struggling because she's got a big heart (and used to have lots of feelings that are now being pulled out by Lucas) but she's so desperate for her mother's approval that she'll follow the rules over all else :(.
I've figured out that a lot of the next few chapters will be mocks, before Joshaya and Rucas really come together (then there will be one-on-one bits with them doing their thing ;)). Then after graduation things will start getting even more complicated as the two ships try to deal with their feelings and breaking the rules while they stay in the safe house and do real missions.
I'm going to skip ahead to the big Joshaya chapter next because it's almost all the way done; I just need to write out the beginning feelings analysis to bridge it from their last chapter (and the ending feelings analysis as they do their internal struggle!). But this is will be of my favorite chapters, along with the huge twist chapter after they've done their mission life for a few years (I'm already writing future pieces ahhh).
I'll finish the next chapter as soon as I can and post it!
Feedback is always welcome :)
Kisses,
C