The other three were managing to make their way through the disgusting sewer, but not without complaints. Julie's pants already had muck all over the bottom, and Mayumi had almost lost a shoe in a tar-like substance. Trowa was busy trying to search for the elusive gray block.
Trowa sighed as the two girls began fighting about something.
"Hey," he interrupted, "how long have you two been with the Alliance?"
He both wanted to get them calmed down and also learn a little bit more about them.
Mayumi shrugged. "I've been with them my whole life. I grew up at the agency."
"Is Doctor Jane your mother?" Trowa asked, confused. Their relationship hadn't sounded quite that deep.
She shook her head. "No, I don't know who my parents are. Jane found me abandoned near the agency, and took me in to train me to become a spy."
"So you must be close to perfect," Trowa commented.
Julie rolled her eyes. "Don't feed her ego anymore. She gets enough praise from Jane."
As Mayumi glared at her, Trowa hurriedly turned the conversation to Julie.
"And where are you from?" he asked.
"I actually hacked into the main computer at he base, just for fun. I had no idea where or what it was, but it posed a challenge. And I got in, but they traced it back to my house, even after all my precautions. I was 13."
"Very impressive," Trowa granted.
"Yeah, I thought so too. So, when Jane found out I was youngster with those capabilities, she asked if I wanted to join her. Even though I was young, I knew all about the baggage that came with the deal, and I consented anyway. So, I disappeared."
"And your parents?"
"Can't ever see them again."
Trowa nodded. "I never knew my parents."
"How did the Federation find you?" Mayumi asked as they continued walking, occasionally glancing up at the ceiling.
"Actually, we three knew each other before they recruited us. We lived in Florida, and one day we stumbled onto the base. We loved to go exploring, and that day we went one step too far. When they caught us, it was either die or work for them. Needless to say, we chose life."
Julie shook her head and scowled. "The Federation sounds worse and worse."
"It wasn't all bad. True, they sound a little stricter than Jane, but we did go on missions and such. We did help people."
"But obviously some things were going on behind your backs," Mayumi commented.
Trowa nodded. "What about Shiris? How did she become a member of the Alliance if her father was a co-leader of the Federation?"
"She hated her father," Mayumi replied, "he made her spy for him, dress up as an older woman and find out information, or sneak into different places. She hated it."
"Jane found her at a party," Julie added. "She actually interrogated Jane, and then went up to her father's computer to find out if he was up to anything bad again. She tried to warn all the people her father was targeting next, and did manage to save a few lives. But Jane also went up for the same reason, and found her. Shiris joined the Alliance without question, and she became the third member of the team."
"But just before she left, actually on the day she left, her house was destroyed in fire. She managed to escape," Mayumi finished.
"Did they ever find out if the fire was planned?" Trowa asked, extremely curious. He knew he hadn't done a job like that, but he wasn't sure about the other two. It would be horrible to learn one of his friends had done it.
Mayumi shook her head. "They suspect it was done on purpose, since Shiris had joined the Alliance and that meant her father could secretly be working for them, but they never discovered who started it."