When the agents shot me back on Mount Doom, to be sure I didn't' cheat and use my legs, they put a shot into each one. My legs were limp and I couldn't control them.

"When we get to camp I'll trade the points for the antidote. You'll be back to normal in five minutes." Glory assured me.

I felt my legs, but I couldn't feel my touch. "I was stupid to leave position."

"No you weren't. It was an accident, they all are."

"In a real mission that could have cost me my life." I replied flatly. "And endangered yours too."

"This isn't a real mission, Beautiful. This is a game. Play it like a game." Cannon adjusted his hold on me and held me tighter as he jumped down a rock.

"When you flunk the SIT program Cannon, you really should look into a rescue team." I grinned.

"Do you want me to drop you in a river dollface? Because I will."

Glory just laughed and continued walking.

[ ] [ ] [ ]

Glory bit the lid off and held the syringe over my knee, searching for the vein.

He pushed it in and I immediately felt feeling surging back into my limbs,

Delta coiled our climbing ropes and paused. "Listen, Silver. I'm sorry about what I said to you on the mountain."

"It was a stressful day. It's all good." I lied.

"We can't have any fights between us. Stress will kill you on that mountain." Glory flipped the key I his hand and grinned.

"Group hug." Cannon mocked in his saucy voice. "Come on, let's hit a swim before dinner starts."

[ ] [ ] [ ]

"And Compound Washington! Glory, Silver, Cannon, and Delta! Congratulations for knocking out Doom Mountain Assassins. I must say, the flag was a nice touch through." He grinned.

Everyone applauded, but no one meant it I knew they couldn't. There was only respect, no gladness.

Lightning glared at us from across the table. They had failed to do it yesterday.

"Anything that needs to be said before we dig in?" Agent One asked, his steady gaze rested on Hawaii.

"We found a 500 point key under the rocks at the swimming hole." The tallest finally burst out.

We all laughed and applauded. SITs had been climbing around that place for a week and no one had seen it.

I took my cue from Cannon's nod.

We all stood and walked toward the stage.

"What is-" Agent One began, surprised.

We brushed past him and I heard the murmurs of "huh?" around the room.

I reached under my shir, on the chair, I pulled out the key. I pushed into the lock and turned.

Click

Glory opened the glass case and Delta and Cannon each took a handle of the huge cup and lifted it out.

We all paused a minute, letting everyone have it sink in.

Butterflies punched against my stomach. I saw Dusk shaking her head in disappointment, but frinning for me.

I let my eyes wander to Midnight Sky. His eyebrows were raised under his hair. Lightning's fist was clenched.

Agent One stepped away from the podium and walked to us. "You went down the harder side of Doom Mountain?"

We nodded and grinned at each other.

"Do tell." He motioned for Glory to take the mike.

Glory took the stage. "On Mount Doom we had tried to kill their terrorist team. We had it all completed, except before one could be shot, he had a terrible aimed shot at Silver and got her in the leg. She couldn't walk after the numbing shot."

'We had no choice but to X-strap her and carry hr back down. But we decided it would be easier to carry her up, then lower her down. So that's what we did."

"Yeah." Cannon interjected, not to let the spotlight be stolen from him. "We lowered her down the vertical face of the mountain. Hard to climb down, but easier to lower. And on her decent she found the hanging from a tree root on the face.'

'It was awesome. She had cuts all over her because of the X-strap, but she found it!" He grinned at me. It wasn't those suave: "Hey-baby-can-I-buy-you-a-drink?" grins, but a real proud, brotherly grin.

And I liked it.

I took the stage. "it was an accident we found it this early, but it was cool!"

The scoreboard changed.

Washington

15,400

I looked at Glory and he gave me a thumbs-up sign.

We bounced down the steps and stuffed the trophy between Cannon and Glory. I settled next to Cannon and reached over him to stroke the gleaming gold.

"Maybe Chief will let my next demerit slide." Cannon chuckled, he wiggled his eyebrows up and down mischievously.

"I wouldn't count on it." I cuffed his shoulder. I was in too good a mood to let him get to me.

"if we don't have an assignment, do you guys wanna go dirt biking tomorrow? Midnight Sky smirked. "A couple races to knock the hot air out of ya?"

It was too late to back down from a challenge. Not while we were on top. But..

"Nah. I'm happy with the trophy. Fitting your pride in the cup may not work out." Delta smirked.

"I don't know it would fit anyway." Cannon agreed.

"If you want to back down from a challenge.' Comet shrugged.

"Call it what you want." I started to eat my meal.

"I call it yellow-bellied, chicken-hearted cowards." He replied simply.

"Gee, are you going for a Clint Eastwood impression, partner?" Cannon smirked. "Come on we're all ten star agents. I know poisoned bait when I see it."

"Then why do you chill with jail bait?" Lightning sneered.

"Speaking of which, you gonna eat that?" I asked Glory.

Glory handed me his French Fries with an annoyed grimace to Lightning.

Midnight Sky shrugged. "You're never going to be rid of someone better then you."

"Not at this table." Cannon gulped his Coke in a single swig.

There was no lightening the hanging tension.

I hurried to finish my burger and looked behind me to see where Dusk winked and jerked her head to the door.

"I'm going to go hang out. Later." I stood, disintegrated my trash, and hurried after her outside.

"Wow. Congrats. That's amazing." She said, once we'd reached the hall.

We did a gripping high-five and walked into our row of cabins.

We both jumped on our air boards and I explained to her how I'd been shot.

"It was a 5-star mistake. I felt like letting the earth swallow me up.' I admitted.

"It was a mistake. If it hadn't happened, the key probably would hang there till the end of the summer. No one else would let themselves be lowered down that side of Doom Mountain."

I smiled in gratitude. "So, How was your day?"

"It was fun. We decided to take a sleuthing break because Fresh and Dodger wre starting to get at each other's throats in these situations."

"Same with Delta and Cannon." I muttered,

"Yeah. So, we went dirt biking to the rain forest, had a picnic, and did some more dirt biking."

"Good idea. We might do something like that tomorrow, depending on the enw schedules."

"Yeah. What's biting Delta and Cannon?"

"Testosterone competition. You know how it is. And Delta was pretty steamed about me getting shot. I think he made the straps cutting on purpose. And he's always been jealous of Cannon."

"Yeah. Dodger and Fresh were having hard time because Fresh takes everything like a serious agent, while Dodger likes to have a little fun with it."

"I heard there are going to be some challenges now. Day Challenges. For points and stuff. It ought to be interesting."

Dusk nodded in agreement, fluffing her fire red hair back.

"Do you want to go for a midnight ride?" She asked.

I paused. "After curfew?"

"Sure. We'll set the motors on whisper and we'll hit the desert at night."

I paused a moment. "I dunno.'

"Don't you always do that kind of thing at your compound? Everyone told me you were the dare-devil."

"I am. I always air board after hours. It's easy to sneak around alarms. But, this is where the road meets the rubber."

"You mean we can get kicked out?" Dusk laughed a little. "It would never happen. Especially to you."

I paused. "All right. Let's do it. Midnight at the bikes." We knocked fists and I started to my cabin.

What am I getting myself into?