Part 15: Sam's Decision

The cold, lifeless hallways of WOOHP had been feeling exceptionally cold the last few days. She'd gone completely numb, and spent all of her time finding dark corners to hide in. She had to be alone... she had to think. She had to figure out what to do now. But the harder she thought, the more she'd sunk into a vague sense of despair. Now at last, she'd reached a conclusion, so she headed for Jerry's office to confront him and let her course of action be known. Maybe he would make her regret it... but she would not scurry and hide in the shadows like he did. She would walk away from all this with her head held high.

Sam pushed open the door to Jerry's office and went inside. Jerry was standing in front of GLADIS' camera, discussing something in hushed tones. When he heard the door he whirled, and his eyes immediately softened when he saw that it was her. "Sam... I was beginning to grow concerned." Jerry turned away from GLADIS to face her.

"I've made a decision, Jerry." Sam replied. There was a moment of tense silence before she spoke again. "I can't be a part of this charade."

"Is that so?" Jerry sounded disappointed. "So you'd condemn the world to becoming a chaotic... barbaric place rather than accept what happened? Do you think people will remain peaceful when they learn the truth?"

"No." Sam replied. "But I've thought a lot about it... I just can't let a new world to be based on this kind of lie."

"Are you certain?"

"Not in the slightest." Sam shook her head. "I don't know what's right or wrong anymore... all I know is how I feel, and I feel that the truth should be known. Knowledge is power Jerry. If you deprive them of the full truth, how are you better than any other dictator from history? You're using their ignorance to manipulate them... no matter how righteous your ultimate goal seems."

Jerry nodded slowly, putting his fingers together in a pyramid, never taking his eyes away from hers. "You know... that this information could destroy everything I'm working for... everything the world could become now."

"I know." Sam replied.

"Then you know I can't let you go." Jerry said.

"I know." Sam repeated. "I just wanted to make my position clear before I left anyway."

"I'm sorry Samantha." Jerry stood up and rested his hand on the desk, near the red button that would set off the building's security system. "You are like a daughter to me... and I want you to have everything you could want. I want you to be happy."

"I'll be happy when everyone knows why their friends... their lovers... and their families had to die." Sam replied. "Call security on me if you want. I'm leaving either way." Sam turned and walked out of the room. No sooner had she passed the solid steel door than red lights began to flash, GLADIS' robotic voice echoing through the entire building.

"SECURITY ALERT. A rogue agent is attempting to leave the premises. Moving across the sixty-fifth floor. Detain at all costs." GLADIS' voice warned amid the flashing lights. Sam took off down the hall, pumping her legs as hard as she possibly could. She didn't get far before two guards rounded the corner in front of her, but she had the element of surprise. She leapt in the air and thrust both legs out, slamming them both into the walls before she landed and sprinted between them.

Sam made her way down the halls and turned into the stairway, but suddenly the door swung open, slamming into her. She stumbled back into the wall with a heavy thump, grunting in pain and WOOHP Officers began pouring out of the stairwell. Sam lurched to her feet and turned to run, but two officers grabbed her arms, holding onto her while others began to swarm around her.

Sam growled and bend her wrists backward, the nails on her gloves extending over an inch longer than normal. She thrust her hand upward, thrusting the Retractable Faux Nails into her captor's shoulder. He howled in pain and pulled away quickly, clutching at his wound as others began to swarm around her. Sam threw herself forward, slashing with her newly grown claws.

The Officers backed off quickly, an opportunity Sam seized. She leapt between them, whirling to kick one officer out of the way and break from the crowd. She sprinted down the hallway, with over a dozen WOOHP Officers trailing right behind her. One hand quickly reached into her hair and yanked free two barrettes.

She leapt into the air in mid-sprint, whirling and throwing the barrettes behind her. The blades on the Buzzsaw Boomerangs sprang from their shells as they arced toward the solid steel walls on each side of the Officers. They sliced into the steel walls, the friction causing a shower of sparks to rain down on her pursuers. Their neatly pressed uniforms quickly ignited, the front row going up in flames.

The officers yelled in surprise and pain, their comrades rushing to their aid while Sam continued down the hall. She skidded to a stop in front of a window and two open hallways on either side. She turned to the right, but several officers quickly turned the corner. She looked back the other way only to see yet more officers coming up behind her. She backed toward the middle of the intersection, her guard up.

"Give yourself up. We have you surrounded." One of the officers insisted as they slowly closed the gap between them.

"They deserve the truth." Sam snaked one hand discreetly into her pocket. "Even peace is just another form of control when it's based on ignorance." Quickly she whipped her hand out of her suit, holding several small tubes above her head. The officers rushed toward her, but the flung the tubes of Lip-Balm Smoke Bombs into the floor, and a cloud of solid pink smoked flooded down the hallway, completely obscuring everyone's vision.

Officers scrambled for her, the sound of grunts and yelps as they searched through the thick fog echoed across the steel walls. At last the fog began to dissipate, and the officers stood in confusion as they looked around. The spy had vanished amid the smoke, as if she'd never existed in the first place. "Spread out, I want every inch of this floor searched!" One of the officers exclaimed.

"Yes sir!" The officers split up to rush down the three hallways, leaving behind the spent smoke bombs. Sam clung to the building's support beam outside the window, using it to stay out of sight from the windows. Her hair whipped across her face with the harsh winds that blew through the area, but she just brushed it out of the way and paused to take a few deep breaths.

She was way too high up to climb down with any of the gadgets she had on her, but she would be found in seconds if she entered this floor again. So she slowly slid away from the beam, standing on the ledge in front of one of the windows, facing toward the glass. She pulled out the cord on her bungee belt and fired it at the windowsill, where it clung tightly.

She put her arms out to the sides, leaned back, and kicked off the windowsill, letting the bungee cord unwind as she fell through the air away from the building. She was careful not to let her blood start pumping too much, she needed to be able to focus if she didn't want to slam into the wall, probably breaking every bone in her body.

Soon the cord snapped taut with a jerk, and Sam began to swing in toward the building. The arc took her straight toward the side of the building between windows, so she places her hand on top of the release, waiting for just the right moment. Right before she would have connected she pressed the release and the hook let go. Sam began to fall, but only two feet, straight into the window beneath the wall.

The glass shattered on impact, raining down around her as she slammed into the floor on her back with a pained thud. The Bungee Belt wound itself up back into place, forcing her to jerk her head to the side to avoid the buckle as it zipped back into place. Sam climbed to her feet, looking around to take stock of where she'd wound up. The cord only had a length of twenty stories, so she still wasn't near the bottom.

But she'd gotten around the officers and guards for now, so she was alone on this floor. She ran down the empty hallway, finding the stairs and running out into them to begin the long trek down. Taking the elevator would be way too risky, especially since it was electronic, and GLADIS was probably keeping an eye out for her as well.

She stopped when a door opened the next floor down, several WOOHP Agents she didn't know rushing into the stairwell. The girls looked up at her, crossing their arms over their chests.

"So you're the traitor huh?" The one in front asked. Her gaze was cold and deadly serious, her sharp, slanted eyes staring into Sam's. She wore a gray suit, so dark it might look like fog in the middle of the night. Her skin was light and smooth, and her hair was pitch black. "I didn't think one of the girls who saved the world would turn on it. But I guess heroes are fickle that way."

"Who are you?" Sam demanded.

"I'm Yuki, this is my teammate Megan." The girl replied. Her teammate was a somewhat scrawny girl, at least six inches shorter than Yuki. Her skin was pail and bony for an Agent, with short brown hair cut close to her scalp, but her eyes were sharp and piercing. Her WOOHP uniform was white, almost looking like it was shining. "And you're not going anywhere."

"Listen to me. I don't know what you were told, but it's a lie." Sam slowly walked down the stairs toward them. "Everything that's happened over the last week, it's all been a lie. Jerry isn't anyone's savior, and neither am I. It was all a setup... Jerry is the one responsible for all of it."

"I thought you'd come up with a stupid excuse... but even I wasn't expecting something that bad." Yuki let out a sharp laugh. "Now just give up. You may be able to outrun the muscle heads, but we're Agents, just like you... or maybe even better than you."

"Fine, have it your way..." Sam jumped forward suddenly, pushing off the stairs to sail right over Yuki's head. Yuki leapt to catch her, but Sam sailed right past her, hitting the stairwell at the bottom hard and falling to her knee. But Megan grabbed her hair and shoved her toward the wall, slamming her head into the solid steel. Sam shook her head and tried to get up, but Megan moved with surprising speed, embedding her foot into Sam's stomach.

"Uuugh..." Sam groaned and doubled over, clutching her stomach and gasping for air.

"You're coming with us." Megan told her simply. Sam jumped up suddenly, ignoring the pain in her stomach. She shoved Megan out of the way and tried to run down the stairs, but Yuki caught a handful of her hair and yanked it back while her body went down. Sam howled in pain as she was dragged back upstairs by her hair, then thrown against the wall again.

Yuki and Megan both stood in front of her, their arms across their chests. Sam was probably more experienced, but one against two were still bad odds. "We can do this all day if you want, but you're not leaving." Yuki smirked. Suddenly the door beside them opened and two figures ran into the stairwell.

"Sam?" Sam looked up when she heard Alex's voice. Alex and Clover were standing behind Yuki and Megan, staring at her in shock. "You mean... YOU'RE the rogue agent?" Alex said, dumbfounded.

"Alex... Clover... please. I have a good reason... Jerry, he's responsible for everything!" Sam shouted desperately.

"What are you talking about?" Clover asked.

"We don't have time, the officers will probably be here any second. We have to get out of here now!" Sam shouted.

"That's enough out of you." Yuki plunged one fist into Sam's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Sam groaned and fell to her knees, gasping for air once again. "Stay put until someone arrives to haul your sorry butt to where it belongs." Clover and Alex just watched the scene, looking too shocked to even believe this was happening.

"Girls... please..." Sam begged breathlessly. "Believe me..." Clover and Alex stared at her, then exchanged a quick glance. They nodded and looked straight at the two other agents standing in front of them. In less than a moment Yuki and Megan both collapsed to the floor unconscious as Alex and Clover knelt down to help Sam climb to her feet. "Thank you..."

"We'll talk later. Let's get out of here for now." Clover said. She and Alex rushed down the stairs, carefully carrying Sam between them until she recovered enough to make it on her own. The run was long and tiring, but the girls didn't quit, especially when they heard doors opening on upper flights and officers pouring into the stairwell.

They raced down the stairs and finally ran out on the first floor, panting heavily. "Come on, front door's this way!" Clover ran toward the exit, with Sam and Alex trailing right behind her. They reached the door, but they slammed into it without making it move an inch. A light above the door was flashing red, indicating that it was electronically sealed.

"Rogue Agent detected near primary entrance." GLADIS' voice announced through the building's intercom. "Has been joined by two other Rogue Agents."

"Any idea how we break out?" Alex asked.

"The easy way." Sam reached into her hair and took out her Butterfly Barrette Bomb. "I thought I'd have to fight my way out. Stand back girls." The three girls moved back and Sam hefted the barrette. She hurled it at the door with a grunt. The force of the explosion was enough to send the three girls back against the far wall, but the doors crumbled outward with a thunderous crash.

"We're almost home free!" Sam pushed herself off the wall, running for the door. Alex and Clover ran right behind her. They ran out onto the pavement in front of WOOHP headquarters, but no sooner had they reached the street than gunfire erupted around them. The girls yelped in surprise. "This way! Hurry!" Sam darted toward the small settlement that was being built outside WOOHP headquarters. The gunfire died down as they neared. As she hoped, they wouldn't put innocents in danger.

"Where do we go now?" Clover asked. They were safe from gunfire, but the WOOHP Officers were still on their tail.

"We keep running until we lose them." Sam replied. The girls didn't stop for anything, charging around makeshift shelters and people going about their daily business. Soon they made it through the small settlement and ran into the abandoned sections of the city, picking their way around broken vehicles, furniture, electronics, and anything else that hadn't survived the flood.

The officers opened fire again, but there was far too much debris for the gunfire to get through, and the girls were nimble enough to get through it with relative ease, compared to the large and bulky WOOHP Officers. The girls easily outdistanced them, turning down a small back alley and making their way between the buildings, running at random until it felt like their legs were going to give out.

At last they stopped to catch their breath, leaning against the walls or plopping to the ground. "Are you girls okay?" Sam panted. "Did anyone get hit?"

"I don't think I did..." Clover replied breathlessly. "Alex?"

"Umm..." Alex grunted. Sam and Clover looked to see her holding a gash on her calve. "I think it's just a cut, nothing to worry about."

"Even a cut can get infected. Sit down." Sam pushed away from the wall and walked over to her. Alex slid down the wall to her butt, sticking her leg out so Sam could pull her boot off, pull her pant leg up and examine the wound. It wasn't deep enough to be life-threatening, but it looked fairly mean and probably painful. "I don't have any water to wash it with, but at least I can wrap it up until we find some."

"Okay." Alex nodded warily. Clover kneeled down beside Sam to watch her dress the wound with a small piece of cloth she'd been carrying in her backpack.

"So, you mind telling us why we just broke out of WOOHP like wanted criminals?" Clover asked.

"We're not the criminals..." Sam said softly. "Jerry is."

"Jerry? Jerry would never commit a crime. He's not that kinda guy." Clover pointed out.

"I know, he thought he was doing the right thing..." Sam sighed softly. "Hell, maybe he was. I don't know."

"So you just dragged us out of WOOHP because Jerry did something that might or might not have been a bad thing to do?" Clover scratched her head in confusion. "You're not making a whole lot of sense Sammy."

"Professor Zero wasn't working alone." Sam told them curtly. "Jerry was funding him... Jerry did everything. He set up the base in the pyramid; he gave him Major Snell's gravity technology, he TOLD him to do it in the first place." Sam said. Clover and Alex stared at her in surprise.

"No... why... why would he?" Alex asked.

"He said it was to prevent a nuclear third World War..." Sam shook her head. "I guess he had a point... but I couldn't stand the idea of letting everyone stay ignorant of the truth. They have a right to know why their loved ones had to die, don't they...?" Sam looked over at Clover, almost pleading with her for comfort. "I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?"

"Sammy..." Clover held one of Sam's hands in both of hers. "Your judgment has been keeping us alive ever since we joined WOOHP. Even before that, you were my moral compass. Maybe I didn't listen to you as often as I should've, but you were always there to give me advice." Clover smiled. Sam smiled back. "You may make a mistake sometimes... you're only human after all. But if it comes down to choosing between you and Jerry, I'll choose you every single time."

"Yeah, me too." Alex added, scooting over to put an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Wherever you go Sam, I know you'll do what you think is right. And I'll always be right there with you, we both will." Alex smiled. Sam sniffled as tears of joy began to slide down her cheeks.

"Oh thank you girls!" Sam threw her arms around her friends, pulling them into a tight group hug. "Thank you so much..."

"Don't sweat it." Clover hugged her back, leaning her cheek against the side of her head. "Now let's get out of this alley and start spreading the word." Clover moved to climb to her feet, helping Sam up in the process. Alex stood up as well with a bit more difficulty since her leg seemed to be paining her still. She took a moment to slide her boot back on.

"How do we do that? If we show our faces anywhere near WOOHP Headquarters we'll probably get caught." Alex asked.

"We're still spies." Clover replied. "We just go undercover. If we're careful we can start spreading the truth without anyone at WOOHP realizing we're there."

"Okay, so how do we do that exactly?" Alex asked. They both turned to Sam, who was still trying to compose herself. She hated getting overly emotional, especially in the middle of a mission. It made her feel like a child... but she just couldn't help it. She'd known Alex and Clover were her best friends, but she never knew just how much faith they put in her. She was grateful for them now more than ever.

"Alright girls..." Sam wiped her eyes clear and looked back and forth between her friends. "We need a way to get into the settlement without arousing any suspicion from WOOHP. It's not likely for three girls to just walk in, the nearest surviving people are probably hundreds of miles away." Sam finished composing herself and stood up straight, looking back and forth between her friends. "Coming in by air is out..."

"So we can't fly, we can't walk... what else is there?" Alex asked. Sam turned her gaze toward a nearby manhole cover lying on the ground nearby.

Clover groaned. "Ah geeze, I hate sewers!"

"I know, but we can pop up right in the middle of the settlement without WOOHP figuring us out. Now come on." Sam walked toward the manhole with her friends following behind her. She couldn't help thinking about everyone they'd left in WOOHP. Her mother, Stella, Carmen... Arnold... but she was sure Jerry wouldn't hurt them. He wasn't some maniacal supervillain... and that only made this harder for her. But her mind was made up. Her path was set. And she would see it through.

TO BE CONTINUED