Author's Note: The twentieth chapter! Hooray! Thanks for the support guys! Sorry for the very, very, very, very, very long delay since I have my future to worry about. I've been pounding programming codes and notes in my head for the past few weeks. Now I've got the time, it's time to update my fanfics. In this particular chapter the traitor is finally revealed, and some juicy character background about the Pet Shop Girl was written. I hope this chapter will live up to your expectations. Read!
Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.
Chapter 20: Traitor, New Adversary
The girl then walked over to Michael as Bridget glared at her in disbelief and shock. Such treachery could not be forgiven. It had been said in the Official Book of Conduct of the Ladies of Espionage Sisterhood if a member was found guilty of treason, she would be stripped out of her membership and will be punished severely. And this particular girl had breached the highest of all law that nobody in the span of the sisterhood's history had yet to break. Bridget really wanted to kill her. She was disappointed and dismayed to see that she chose this path. The girl stopped next to Michael and smirked at Bridget.
"What's a matter Bridget? Didn't see it coming?" the girl replied back.
"And I thought you were the most trustworthy agent around. God, I hate you."
She smiled back and replied, "HA! I've been planning this shit ever since you were initiated as Chief you moron. I only have to wait long enough for the right time to come. And Michael's release was just the start of my brilliant, cohesive plan which I'm going to tell you in an invigorating, plot-twisting, inevitable 'villain plan telling' sort of way." She cackled evilly.
"Go ahead; it's not like I'm going anywhere."
"All righty then. Two weeks after Michael was released from prison, he had called his entire former gang members and started a meeting. Meeting of the minds, you might say. His top priority back then was revenge, particularly on our little elusive club right here. He would've gone for Olga first, but he couldn't since he decided that the thing between Olga and him should be taken care of personally since, well, you know the history between them, right? And so after many days of careful planning, they were finally unanimous with their plans. And the first thing on their list was to start recruiting thugs. They went all over the city to find new gang members to add into his precious club. And I so happens to be one of them."
"Why…?"
"Do you have a short attention span or something, Bridge?" she scowled, "Like I said earlier, I've been planning your downfall as chief ever since you became one. I only need the right time to set my plan into motion. Michael's release was the break that I needed. And now, I'm a happy girl, because the downfall of LES' and its Chief seems to be unavoidable, in my grasp and has finally become a realization."
"So you're after me, is that it? So why do you have to drag the agency along with it?"
"Why not? This organization has always been unfair to me, so I decided to repay it back by divulging each and every of her secrets to Michael, just to make the odds to be even. Remember a few days ago when Michael contacted us for the first time?"
"That was your doing." Bridget murmured. "You gave our secret frequency to them!"
"Wow. You're smart." She mocked, "Anyway, yeah. That's what I did. That was my first act of treason. I did that because I wanted to prove to them that I could become a legit member and a trustworthy affiliate of their gang. I promise them that with my information and my actions, I will destroy LES from the inside. Firstly, I started by trying to eliminate a member by making them quit the organization."
"But you asked Lila to come back into joining us!"
"Well, I thought she would be the one who'll make all those other rookies turn to the other cheek. By inviting her back, that stupid, weak girl, would someway or another make the new members feel incompetent and discouraged from performing their job. Oh, I was wrong. So very wrong. Lila have proven herself to be a great adversary of my plans, as she became better and better in performing her duties. The way she stopped the bank robbers and the assassin, oh God she was too dangerous. So I decided to abandon the plan of eliminating the members of this organization altogether and try to focus on something else. Like, fracturing someone's friendship for example. I wanted to do the united we stand, divided we fall thing. Did you know that those rookies have been bickering with one another and have been taking sides lately? And what about the girls at the training centre? Am I awesome or what?"
"You, evil, evil bitch!"
"Oh come on, Bridge." She smiled, "That's all you can say? Oh yeah, remember the Olga assassination plot? I was kinda involved in it too."
"The assassin? That was your dirty job too?"
"Some part of it, but it was mostly mine. Michael was still distrustful of me even after I gave the frequency code to him, so he decided to use this assassin plan, so called, to give me another chance to convince him that I am trustworthy. The whole assassination Olga thingy was just a distraction to keep you guys away from the real picture."
"Dammit, I should've known…" Bridget muttered angrily.
"Olga at that time was a soft target for him, so he put her low on his priority list. Remember that gun case and those two bullets those rookies brought to you? The assassin left it there so the rookies, what's her name…" she snapped her fingers repeatedly, trying to remember the name, "Hilda—"
"Helga." Bridget snapped back.
"Whatever, and that other rookie could bring it into the base. And do you want to know why we wanted them to bring that case here, inside the base? Because in those two little tiny bullets, there was a tracking device in it, courtesy of me of course. I did told them the location of our base, but they were unconvinced, so that's why I had that plan to prove to them that I am right."
Bridget was in shock.
"Michael asked one of his best technicians to remove the wiring from the A-101 put them into those bullets. That's how they know where our base is located. But he's not done with it yet, because blinking lights from a PDA can only prove oh so much."
"But we x-rayed it…"
"The electronic wiring inside didn't register, did it? Well, we we're kinda worried that it wouldn't work ourselves. But hey, it worked, it worked." She shrugged.
"And the assassin…?"
"Yep, by capturing the hitman and bringing them into the base you've shown to them the legitimacy and authenticity of my intelligence. The assassin then approves my legitimacy, by showing me a feet signal that you did not notice. The feet signal was also the signal for him to escape the base."
"So that's why you were so eager to escort that guy into the negotiation room…"
"Yep, I loose his handcuffs a little bit so he could run away easily. Man Bridge, you are so gullible…" she giggled, "Anyway, don't worry out the teams that you sent out. They'll be in good hands."
"Oh my God… please don't tell me—"
"Yeah, my handiwork too." She smiled, "Little that Fuzzy Slippers knew, he passed the false information that I created down to those stupid gullible agents. There's no such thing as a drug transaction or whatever crap that I made up. It was all a ploy to trap them there so they couldn't intervene with our plans that we're planning on this base. What a bunch of poor, naive saps. But don't put the blame on Fuzzy though; he was just doing his job."
"What about the hacking into our main database this afternoon, huh? I assume it was your doing too."
"Hacking? Don't know anything about that. My, my, my, Bridge. Looks like we've outsmarted you huh?" she insulted.
"Why would you do this?" Bridget asked her with a disheartened, defeated tone.
She beamed at her and replied, "I'll tell you!" But then she frowned, and glared at her, "Olga was wrong to choose you as the Chief Bridge. She did that because you were her apprentice. Not because of your merits and qualities, but on the grounds of you were her apprentice."
"That's not true! The decision wasn't made by Olga herself, and even if she did, she would've chosen her deputy, not me!"
"Then who made the decision?" the girl shouted back.
"The most senior of the LES members, including Olga elected the next chief in a shroud of secrecy. They. Chose. Me. Besides, why the hell you want this job? It's tough as hell and you need lots and lots of dedication and devotion to it!"
"Getting the top job as the Chief was my dream ever since they offered me to join this thing, and YOU, took the opportunity from me and shattered each and every piece of my dream you dumb slut! You're the root of all the troubles we're facing right now Bridge!"
"Are you blaming me on why you decided to backstab, betray and destroy all your friends' trust and hard work by allying with this psychotic maniac?" she pointed bitterly at Michael, "Unbelievable! I don't understand you. Couldn't you just accept the fact that they chose me to carry the burden of organizing, maintaining and leading this thing? It's not like I have a choice! I can't turn it down!"
"NO! It was unacceptable, seeing that I did more work than you do! And to add insult to my injury, you let that fatass Linda become your deputy!"
All the other agents in the command room had their faces cringed in shock and said "ooh…" in shock disbelief of that insult that she just threw at Linda. Linda just stood stunned and a moment later, she replied angrily, "Hey, leave my bodyweight out of this! I know I'm not the most in-shape person around, but at least I took the liberty to watch what I eat and work out!"
"So what? You're fat before and you're fat now! What's the difference?"
"You're asking for it you retarded bitch!" Linda pointed at her murderously, "You backstab us, insulted me, and you're gonna pay for all you've done!"
"Ohh… I'm so scared now!" she faked a fear. "And your last retort was so done to death, anyway!"
"Listen to yourself." Bridget interjected, "It's because of that attitude that Olga didn't make you the leader. Don't you see it?"
"NO! I couldn't agree with that, not at all. It was unfair. I should've been the Chief. NOT. YOU!" she yelled out loud, pointing at her angrily.
"That's quite enough Cady!" Michael shouted at Lila's former mentor, "I'm getting tired of pointing this gun at her face! Can we just move along with our plan?"
"As you wish." Cady replied, "You're the brains around here, Michael."
"Does this place have some jail cells or something so we could put them in?"
"We have no jail cells, but we do have individual rooms at the training area, some five storey underground."
"How many rooms are there?"
"Nine."
"How big are they?"
"Enough for ten people or so, roughly."
"Good enough. You," he ordered some of his hired henchmen around him, "escort these chicks to those room. The rest of you, help me commandeer this room. Ah, what the hell, just forget it. Let's celebrate for doing a kickass job at kicking their asses. Bring on the champagne, guys!"
And everybody henchmen and thug in the room cheered.
"But first put them into those room first, you idiots! And don't hurt them!" Michael shouted to all of them.
"Oh…" some of them muttered, and quickly they scrambled and shoved the girls inside the room to the elevator nearby. Defeated, they trudged as the thugs behind them guarded their every humiliated steps. As they walked past Cady, they looked at her with distrust, disgusted and with an angry glare. And yet, she did not feel guilty of her actions as she smiled back at her former friends and comrades. One of them said:
"You're a horrible, horrible person, Cady…"
"Backstabber." Accused another.
"I hope you rot in hell, Cady." Cursed another.
Even though she was pounded by hundreds of degrading insults from the agents who walked past her, she did not flinched, retort back at them or felt guilty of her actions at all. She just felt that they got what they deserved after shunning her from becoming the Chief. She felt her revenge was now complete. No remorse at all. She continued to smile a satisfied smile at the humiliated agents as they walked past her. When the last batch of agents went into the elevator, Michael walked over to her and said:
"You know, the drug thing is actually true, you know."
"Hey, c'mon. I'm trying to lower their morale here. Of course I'm going to lie a bit just to see how they would react. Didn't you see those pathetic looks on their faces when I said all that crap to them?"
"That's pretty cold of you."
"Yeah… well, they deserved it. Every one of them."
"Man. If I were you, I'd be feeling like, really bad right now."
The comment struck her hard, "Well, what do you know?" she riposted, "You didn't put up with all the crap that I've been through!"
"Hey, just saying, that's all." He shrugged. He then took a cigarette out from his pocket and lit it up. He offered it to Cady, but after a while, she motioned her left hand to refuse the offer. Michael then shrugged and turned around to walk to his henchmen behind him. "Secure the area. I want my technicians and computer guys to go over their network. I want every scrap of information on their computer to be analyzed. PSG," he called the Pet Shop Girl, "Go downstairs to the training area and make sure the idiots down there are doing what they are supposed to do."
The Pet Shop Girl nodded and quickly she walked over to the elevator, passing Cady by. Cady's thoughts were still preoccupied with Michael's comment that he made just now. She tried to forget it, but she couldn't. Could it be that a sense of guilt was spreading through her mind? The elevator dinged, and opened its doors for the Pet Shop Girl. The Pet Shop Girl was creepy if you gazed at her long enough. She had this blank, emotionless look on her face, as if she was a robot or something – incapable of showing any emotions at all. Her eyes had these cold murderous gaze, and her right hand always had her katana sword in tight grasp, as if she did not want it to detach from her.
She walked in, turned around and pushed a button on the right side of the elevator. The door slowly closed as the people at the control room looked at her in fear. The door closed and the elevator descended to the training area below them. Some of Michael's henchmen cringed and shuddered after she was out from their sight.
"Man, she's giving me the creeps." One of them said.
"Yeah, I wonder what happened to her? I know she hated her job at the pet store and all but that ain't be the reason why she's acting like that…" the other one replied.
"Hey, am I paying you to talk about her, huh? Do your damn job!" Michael quickly reminded them.
The elevator dinged, and the door opened, revealing to the Pet Shop Girl that the henchmen were doing as exactly as they were ordered by Michael. The rooms that agents were in weren't spacious, but enough for them all. The rooms were actually old office rooms during World War Two when they used to store ammunitions inside the training facility. But now it was just a storeroom for the agency to put their training equipment inside. The doors were all locked and all spying equipment that the agents were carrying with them was confiscated by the thugs and was put on a table near them. Each room was guarded by three people.
The Pet Shop Girl walked dramatically yet slowly passing each and every room. She had the tip of her katana sword holder touched the surface of the rooms' wall and door as she walked by. It made an eerie sound. Both of the thugs and agents were intimidated by that sound as the Pet Shop Girl looked at them with her copyrighted cold murderous look. Through the windows of the rooms, the agents could see her well. She was not the kind of person who could be taken lightly. Sal, who fought Phoebe in Chapter five, knew her very well.
"Hey Sal," El called her, "Do you know anything about that girl?"
"Know her? Hell, I've been avoiding her like a plague."
Everyone in the small confined room gave her an incredulous look. "Why?" El asked.
"You wanna know why she has that 'I'm so pissed' look on her face? It was a year ago during a Dueler's Competition at the Civic Center. The winner of that match will proceed to the statewide championship, and if won, the winner will represent the country on the next Olympics. She lost, because one of the judges said that she broke one of the rules, even though she totally overwhelmed her opponent. She got pissed, blamed her opponent and tried to stab the judge with the fencing sword. She was then barred from taking any part in any Dueling Matches ever, thus shattering her dreams of ever going to the Olympics and because of that she had to resume work in that crappy Pet Store for the rest of her life."
Everybody gave her a stunned look, "So like, you were there back then?" one of the agents asked.
"Yeah, I lost during the semifinals."
"So… who was her opponent back then?" El asked again.
"If I recall correctly, it was that rookie kid that I fought, that…" she tried to remember the name, "I remember her name starts with a 'P'…"
"Phoebe?" El helped her.
"Yeah, that's right." She nodded, "Oh my God, Phoebe…" she said dreadfully. The Pet Shop Girl paced back and forth along the rooms looking through the windows as if she was searching for someone. And that someone must be Phoebe. "Oh man, she can't take her by herself…" Sal said worriedly.
Meanwhile in another room, a sad, defeated Bridget sat on one of the gymnast mattress, looking dejectedly. She lost all hope. She lost all confidence to lead her organization and her teammates. She felt like she had lost everything. The other agents inside the room with her looked at her in sympathy as well as in pity. Something must be done to let her gain her confidence back. Linda came to her and gently stroked her back.
"Hey, we'll find a way out of this mess." Linda tried her best to comfort her. Bridget's eyes were all misty at that point and then she hugged her. Linda just let her do that as she embraced her back.
"Just so you know, I will never, ever turn my back against this agency. I will stay loyal to you, to my teammates and to this organization. You have my word for it." to the other agents, this was a side of Linda that they rarely saw.
Well, the traitor isn't Linda, if you want a clarification. I've been planning Cady as the traitor ever since the sixth chapter. I promise I will update the next chapter and chapters after that more quicker. Thanks for reading, your support and please, please a review!