Disclaimer: Everything taken from Mission Impossible belongs to whoever the Mission Impossible people are and I am making no money off of this. Trust me, if I were making money, I wouldn't be posting here….

A/N: This chapter isn't as funny as chapter two, but it's essential to the plot line, so I couldn't leave it out. Will Meg and Autumn successfully retrieve the stolen skeleton key? Will Team Green seniors make their way through the fabled crypt beneath the school? Will our lovable characters survive my role-playing game? Read on and find out in…

You are Here and the Pink Barbie Car

12:02 p. m., Monday

Downstairs Blue Corridor (outside Band Office)

Team Green

Several seniors from Team Green crept off of the silent elevator, swapping nervous looks to the tune of the James Bond theme song. Moving as one, they slunk down the blue hallway, stopping in front of the assigned set of lockers and looking around—

"Can we at least get the Mission Impossible theme song?" Kelly, one of the seniors, demanded exasperatedly. None of the freshman dared cross her—Kelly was very reputed for her sarcasm and despite the fact that the head basketball coach had killed her dreams, very athletic.

"James Bond is so chauvinistic and besides, we played it for pep band sophomore year," her friend Elyse complained. Elyse was also the captain of the colorguard and thus another figure not to be crossed. Together, she and Kelly made a formidable team.

"And we didn't play Mission Impossible?" a junior from the saxophone regiment had the gall to ask. The entire saxophone regiment was following the group of seniors, making sure they made it to the destination on time. Kelly pinned the culprit of this remark with a glare and she subsided.

"We like it better, anyway," Elyse said logically.

Jenn, who was busily providing the theme songs for them to work to, quickly changed to an equally off-tone version of the theme song from Mission Impossible. She, like most of the rest of the band, could not sing. They were, after all, mostly only band students and thus born with the inability to sing.

That done, the seniors pushed a freshman forth from their number and pointed at the lockers in front of her. With a sigh, she reached out and touched the set of lockers, watching in boredom. This was a common thing known to the Marching Eagles and the school they attended. Freshmen had hideaways through the lockers that they used frequently to escape the Evil Seniors. After freshman year, not one student entered these secret hideaways. What the group of seniors planned to do would go down in history.

Hesitantly, Elyse stepped forward and peered inside the hideaway. "Hey!" she cried in dismay. "We never got television sets when we were freshmen!"

"Or DVD players," Jenn said, pausing the song to comment.

"Come on, we're on a mission," Kelly said, jostling the freshman in annoyance because the newest freshmen were luckier than their class had been. The poor freshman sighed as though she bore the weight of the world upon her shoulders.

12:04 p. m., Monday

Ventilation Ducts (Band Room)

Team Green Reconnaissance Mission

"Ow, Autumn!" Meg whined as she ran square into Autumn—again—in the ventilation shafts leading into the Band Room. "Do you have to stop so suddenly?"

The younger girl did not apologize; she merely shot Meg a quelling look that made Meg shut up quite abruptly. The two were standing in the shafts underneath the ground. Luckily, they were of moderately average height as humans go and did not have any problem ducking underneath the obstacles. 'What's going on?' Meg mouthed to Autumn, looking above them and flinching. Somewhere up there, Travis reined with a spiked-leather hand.

'They might hear us in the shaft,' Autumn replied.

Meg, apparently not able to read lips, gawked. 'You and Verran did what the week before last?'

'Shut up!'

'I'm not making any noise.'

"Grr." This had been uttered aloud, much to Meg's sadistic pleasure. Autumn looked quite fierce in the darkness with dirt from the vent ducts smudged across her porcelain features. Even in the blackness of the vent ducts, Meg could see her green-blue eyes standing out. 'Come on. We still have to make the trip up to the ceiling of O'Malley's office.'

'Yeah, and let's hope that our surprise technique wasn't spoiled by your 'grr,' eh?' Meg asked, even though Autumn's back was turned. She obediently followed Autumn up the slope. At one point, she suspected that they passed right next to the claustrophobia-inducing practice rooms—there were noises that sounded quite like snogging emanating from her left. Grinning broadly, Meg pushed on, slowly lowering into a crawl as the tunnel narrowed. She and Autumn eventually wound up slithering on their bellies in a military fashion.

'We're here,' Autumn hissed suddenly, stopping abruptly. Meg bounced into her and fell back with a sickeningly loud thud. 'Great. That's the last time I let you follow. You're clumsy.'

'I'm a percussionist,' Meg reprimanded, as though there was a difference. Autumn only rolled her eyes and gestured that Meg should help her haul a huge iron gate out of the way so that they could slip unnoticed into O'Malley's office. Surprisingly, the spy was not there—Travis had called an all-team meeting. 'Guess nobody heard.'

There was a moment's pause as they listened for thudding feet. "You wearing your harness?" Meg asked, shuffling her hands nervously over the thick hunk of rope she had brought with her. Autumn nodded and looped the rope through the carribeaner they had stolen from a classmate who was not in band. She and Meg wore similar devices over their jeans—devices that would allow Autumn to drop into O'Malley's office from the ceiling in a much Mission Impossible-esque style. Meg would be her support and possibly the only one who could jerk her out of view in time.

"Do you see the key?" Autumn asked, peering around the office before she prepared to jump.

"They'll have it stored in the desk drawer—TubaGuy said so. The chocolate oranges are in the third drawer from the top on the left. If nothing else, get those," Meg told her in an urgent voice. "TubaGuy did as much as he could to get the area cleared for us. The seniors should have given him the signal by now. Still, we only have five minutes, give or take a few."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Autumn asked with adventurous glint in her green-blue eyes. With no further ado, she jumped, trusting the rope in Meg's hands to support her. Meg jerked only once and let Autumn down slowly, leaving her to drift there, belly down.

"Tom Cruise had better be running with his money," Autumn said as she stared out of the Plexiglas window to where Team Puce was gathered. Travis was explaining something or other, gesticulating wildly with both hands. Autumn smiled and began rummaging through O'Malley's desk. She found several band director-y things like screwdrivers and knick-knacks from different instruments. One drawer was chock-full of mouthpieces. The drawer below that held the fabled supply of Chocolate Oranges. Beaming broadly, Autumn passed these up to Meg before searching for the key.

The key was not hard to find, but it was hard to reach. Verran and Sebras had constructed the harnesses from bits found in the science offices to be the most aerodynamic possible. This meant that Autumn had to lie flat on her belly in mid-air to get the most strength and support from Meg. She had slid down the rope in a vertical position and now she was stretched out over the band director's desk. Her arms were just not long enough to reach the key, she discovered quickly. Finally, she decided to swing and randomly snatch at the great silver object.

With one leg, she kicked off from the desk and winced as that only managed to swing her a little bit and create a very loud noise. This noise only succeeded in startling Meg to drop a piece of chocolate orange on the floor. Autumn snatched the key just as she saw Team Puce members through the Plexiglas and jerked three times on her cord. Immediately, a very startled Meg whipped her up.

"Run!" Autumn hissed, holding the key up. "Head for the gyms!" Meg slapped the iron gate back over the ventilation shaft entrance and the two started to slither away.

She heard a loud bang as the band office door swung open and knocked solidly against the metal desk. Thankful that they had left nothing as incriminating evidence, Autumn started to slither faster.

"Team Green was here!" Travis's voice snapped, distant and tinny because of the effect of the duct about Autumn.

How had they known? She had shut all of the desk drawers—she was sure of it. There was no other evidence, naught a thing out of place…

Oh, no.

The chocolate orange slice that Meg had dropped!

"Hurry!" Autumn hissed to Meg. They were now far enough away from the band office to be out of sight in case somebody did think of the ventilation shafts, but Autumn felt no need to have a pursuer. She could hear the thumping of somebody yanking out the gate and somebody's echoing voice shouting hello…

This only propelled her faster.

That was followed by the telltale thumps that could only be somebody climbing into the vent ducts. Not one person, Autumn couldn't help but notice, but three. They had three pursuers now and who knew how many people waiting on the other end of the duct. Meg, who was leading this time, cut a sharp right into a duct that sloped downwards. Autumn, not thinking, followed and found herself screaming as she plummeted. Meg tried to grab her jacket to prevent her from falling, but Autumn slipped right out of the article of clothing and fell, screaming louder now.

If Team Puce hadn't heard them yet, they surely had now.

Autumn shot down further, screaming for dear life among all else.

12:08 p. m., Monday

Crypt Beneath the School

Team Green Seniors

"Ugh, it's dark down here," Ashley complained to nobody in particular as they all clambered down the ladder to the crypt beneath the school. "And it's cold."

"That's why we brought extra sweaters," Jenn pointed out, stopping her song for a short time to comment. Elyse took the honor of shoving a dark green one to Ashley before passing their resident freshman a navy blue sweater.

"Now it's warmer," Kelly said, feeling like pointing out the obvious.

"Hey," Elyse said suddenly as she stepped off of the last creaking stair and looked about her into the giant, cobwebby room. Her feet kicked up years of dust as she bent at the nearest wall and examined strange drawings sketched into it. Years before, somebody had spray-painted hieroglyphics in garish blue paint that had darkened from years of being in pitch-blackness. "Jenn, pass me the lighter."

"And Elyse, our historic preservationist, has returned," somebody muttered behind her (Elyse would later suspect Lisa, one of the two "scary seniors"). Jenn paused her song yet again to toss Elyse the lighter. The tallish girl flicked it open and pressed the button, holding the device close to the wall. "Ah. Aha."

"And the secrets of our school are revealed…" Jenn whispered to Ashley. Ashley, holding tightly to a walkie-talkie and listening carefully, hissed at her to be quiet for a moment. She was in charge of the saxophone regiment, and had set them up to guard the entranceway in case any Team Puce members were curious or stupid enough to wander into the fabled freshmen hideaways. Andrea, the sophomore she had left in charge (who happened to own a leopard-printed saxophone), kept calling up with messages for her.

"We were nearly spotted, but the Pucer – " Andrea's nickname for Team Puce's members "—decided to start singing just as he passed. We caught him and took him to Gabi and Team Two with the prisoners."

"Two more prisoners in our clutches."

As Elyse studied the symbols for a long moment, the rest of the seniors listened for Andrea's messages, occasionally making comments ("Ooh! She sounds mad—must be an ex-boyfriend." "Hey, look, this little button makes the walkie-talkie light up!").

"I've got it!" Elyse told the freshman, who was the only one not clustered around the walkie-talkie. "It's a map!"

"I could have told you that," the freshman told her, rolling her eyes. "The big red dot means 'You are Here.'"

"Which one are you, anyway?" Elyse asked, peering hard at the freshman. She was one of the guard freshmen, one of a set of identical twins to be precise. Try as she might, Elyse still had difficulties in immediately telling the two apart; certainly, the darkness didn't help much. She couldn't even read the name on the colorguard jacket.

"Amethyst's got her freshman with her right now," the freshman only said. Honestly, that doesn't help much, an exasperated voice in Elyse's head told her.

You know, hearing voices doesn't help your state of sanity much, another voice told her. It's generally a bad thing.

Is not!

Is too!

Is not!

SHUT UP!

Elyse blinked. She had just told herself to shut up. Elyse didn't do things like that—that was more Laiva's playing field. "I think I need to cut back on the caffeine now," she muttered to nobody in particular.

"What was that, cap'n?" the freshman, as Elyse had begun calling her, asked in an insolently cheerful tone.

"Nothing," Elyse replied hastily. "Hey group! We need to get headed off! Come on, the map says the entrance we need to take isn't that far from here." Using her free hand (the other still had a lighter in it), Elyse wrapped her guard jacket closely about her form and started plodding the path she was quite sure no student had touched since the Beatles were still in England.

She wholeheartedly agreed with whoever it was that next whispered, "Boy, this place is creepy!"

12:18 p. m., Monday

Adobe's Classroom

Team Green

"Why haven't we gotten any news yet?" Verran asked anxiously, wringing his hands. He was clearly awaiting news from Autumn, his girlfriend, who had not even sent word via the walkie-talkie that she and Meg had taken with them on their 'secret mission.'

"Maybe they're stuck in the vent shafts somewhere," Laiva commented with pointed maliciousness. She was to lead Team Five, who had not been dispatched yet, so she had taken the time to do some exploring. Her explorations had led her to find several stuff mole-type creatures (used for Mole day; they were clearly mocking the elements) atop the cabinets. Of course, there was paperwork, but as Laiva was in Adobe's class, she didn't feel necessary to screw up the grades of her classmates. Besides, she had found something much more amusing.

A pink plastic Barbie car—the first one able to support her in ages.

So she zoomed around Room 250 on her skateboard-car as everybody else planned strategies and ways to take the Pucer's base by force. Somebody had found a stash of JellyBeans and was using them to demonstrate different tactics. Team Green was quite lucky to have achieved one of the smartest sophomores in band, an almost-chess master.

"They could still reach us on the walkie-talkies," Verran argued.

Eve reached over and picked up the walkie-talkie. Pressing the 'Talk' button, she said loudly, "Hello? Anybody? Meg? Autumn?"

They waited impatiently, Laiva skating circles about their group, as no answer came.

"Do you reckon they might be in trouble?" Laiva drawled, swerving to a halt. "Or do you reckon they just forgot how the walkie-talkie works?"

Verran shot her a disgusted look and shouldered his backpack, now filled with several lengths of cord, magnesium wire, a flashlight, and food. "I'm going after them. Team Five, you will be dispatched to come after me if I don't return."

"Sure, sure, boss," Amethyst snapped, rolling her eyes. "We're giving the people down in the crypt twenty minutes before we go down after them, right, Gina?" 'Her' freshman, the twin to the unnamed freshman following Elyse, looked up from her card game with another blonde freshman and nodded.

Somebody rapped hard on the door five times in the pattern that was Team Green's. Solan, nearest the door, peeked out and nodded his clearance before letting the visitor in.

Meg stood there, eyes wide and suspiciously bright with…

"Autumn," she croaked worriedly, and staggered to the nearest desk. If Solan had not caught her arm with a steadying hand, she would have crashed to the floor. "Autumn…"

"What about Autumn?" Verran asked worriedly, standing up quite suddenly.

Meg stared at him for a long moment and swung her gaze about the room. "She," she struggled to get out. "She fell."

"Fell?" Sebras, the only one able to speak, asked. Laiva chanced a glance at Verran's face—he was whiter than snow on her grandfather's white Miata.

"We were running from Team Puce—in the ducts, see—and I turned right, there was a drop off and—and…" Meg paused and gulped.

"And?" Amethyst prompted, moving to comfort her friend.

"She fell. Just like that. She didn't even answer. I don't know if she's alive," Meg choked.

Laiva and Sebras exchanged the slightest of glances. "Verran, Laiva, Eve, Solan, I want all of you to go after her," Sebras instructed, his voice tight. "Amethyst, Gina, Rachel (the blonde freshman), you three go after the seniors in the crypt. We can't give up hope.

"Whatever we do, we can't give up hope."