There Are More!
Author's Note: Happy Readings!
Chapter 3
Edited Version
The most secret, most powerful people of the world were sitting at their desk infront of a television one night. For some, it was early in the morning, the middle of the afternoon, or late in the night.
CEO's of Intelligence Agencies from five different states, as well as a powerful spy agency from Asia, were talking on a very complicated, new age telecommunacation system. It allowed for them to see and hear one another, as well as be seen and be heard.
Great Britian.
United States.
Russia.
Brazil.
South Africa.
Japan.
All these states were online and discussing a very secret, very delicate opperation. It seemed as if Great
Britain was conducting the online meeting.
"Now that we have that information cleared, we will discuss the condition of the junior agents." Great Britain said.
"How is United States doing?" The American CEO said so concerned with the identity of his agent, he refused to say her name.
"Well. United States has shown an excellent display of physical fitness throughout training week, although..."
"Japan?" The Japanese translator followed the suit and did not say the name of the agent.
"Excellent as well, but..."
"Russia." The Russian translator stated.
"Russia appears to be in excellent physical condition as well," Great Britain continued quickly to avoid being interupted. "but allow me to show you this video clip of Russia and United States interations."
The videoscreen paused, then turned gray. After a few moments, a blurred video image of six people running popped up.
"In the front of the line is United States and Russia. Look at what happens between the two. Russia is on the left..." Great Britain said.
The video was slowed down. The two blurry figures, running side by side, looked as if they were competing in a race. Even with the blurred image, it was obvious that they were trying hard to be faster than the other.
Then the image was slowed down even more, so that it was playing frame by frame.
"Look at Russia's leg..."
It was a very discrete motion. Russia stuck out a leg, causing United States to trip and stumble forward.
"Now look what happens to Russia..."
As discretely as Russia tripped United States, United States got revenge. The slow motion pictures showed U.S. fall onto Russia, then push him to the side and grabbing his foot, causing him to flip over and cause the other runners to trip over him.
The video clip ended with a picture of all the runners on the ground.
The state CEO's were speechless. Russia was red in the face, embarassed that his perfect agent would start something so childish. The United States' pursed his lips and glared into the screen.
"Now." Great Britain said, cutting through the tension. "We shall observe the interactions between South Africa and Brazil..."
Alex knew it. The sergeant knew it. The instructors knew it. The maids knew it, even the dishwashers knew it.
Everybody knew it.
The six teen agents did not get along. At all.
Technically, it would be correct to say that it all started when Mina kicked Dimitri in the face. But it really started when physical conditioning began.
Now these teenagers were accustomed to being the best. The Best. They were accustomed to praise and admiration for their excellence.
So when someone beats them at what they though they were the best at, those teens get a little edgy. Now combine that with a history of tramatizing deaths as well as near death experiences, and these teens end up upset.
During running on the first official day of Hell Week, Dimitri tripped Mina, who pushed Dimitri, who fell and tripped Alex, who fell onto Takeo, who stumbled and pushed Luis, who ran into Muriethi, who fell and caused everyone to fall... Things began to crumble from there. Later in the showers, Mina launched oil into Dimitri's hair, and Takeo tripped Alex then locked him shortly into the shower room. When he did that, he also locked in Mureithi, Dimitri, and Luis. They were pretty upset.
So three guys were upset with Takeo.
When Mina opened the door and let Alex out, he missed the argument between Mureithi and Luis. Luis found the clump of oil Mina had used on Dimitri and smeared it all over Mureithi's towel.
When Mureithi found this, he immediatly assumed that Mina had done it. Upset with Mina and Luis, he strolled around the shower room naked until he could find a towel so he could yell at Mina. He found Dimitri's towel, and took it. Now Dimitri was upset with not only Mina, but with Mureithi for stealing his towel.
So the night raged on, and eventually, everyone was upset with each other.
The next day, Day 2 of Hell Week, the the teens decided to seek revenge from the previous day's events. Mina and Dimitri especially would constantly exchange insults about each other and their agencies. Mureithi put mouth wash in Takeo's orange juice(Mmm this is minty!), but he didn't notice until later when he vomitted after a stomach ache. Luis "accidently" dropped a Sloppy Joe sandwich on Alex's head during Lunch. Alex refrained from hurting him by gentling repeating to himself, "Dont give in to the maddness, dont give in to the madness..."
Weight Training class was not a pretty sight. Dimitri made fun of Mina's weight level and found himself dodging a ten pound weight being thrown at him with amazing force. Luis made the same mistake but with Mureithi and had to dodge a thirty-five pound weight. There was a big hole in the wall in the weight room.
At night, Mina would sneak out and fetch odd substances from where ever, like old clumps of oil from the sergeant's military car mixed with dirt and leaves. When all of the boys were sleeping, she would enter one unlocked room and quietly smear the substance on the sleeping boy. When she was long gone from the scene, that boy would eventually wake up and sneak into an unlocked room and assume the boy inside was responsible for the mess. That boy happened to be Alex.
The next morning, Day 3 of Hell Week, Alex was especially livid, since he woke up on the stark naked on the field and covered in mud and oil.
The teens found themselves hating each other with a passion. Mina and Dimitri especially, as well as Luis and Mureithi, and Alex and Takeo.
Things were not going well.
Mrs. Jones sat in a mundane room. The floor was mundane, as well as the walls. There was a single brown chair in the middle of the room. Infront of that was a plasma television.
She watched in horror video after video of the supposed "elite child agents" fight over the littlest things.
They were suppose to get along.
The mission depended on them getting along. Why weren't they getting along?
She studied the videos. She took notes. They didn't even have a month to prepare. First they needed to
start physical conditioning, then start a rigorous class that would cram science into their minds.
But they needed to get along.
Mrs. Jones rubbed her forehead and popped a peppermint into her mouth. She put so much into organizing this mission. If it failed, not only would she have wasted time and money, she would have belittled the name of MI6 and all of Great Britain's excellence. Also the world would be attacked by a series of bioterrorists.
She sat infront of the television, rewinding then playing the video again and again. The teen agents were only training together, not competing against each other. Why would they become competative when they were just working out?
She popped her last peppermint into her mouth, adding to the smaller peppermints that were already inside.
The minty taste helped her concentrate, and it tasted good.
But tasty peppermints could not help her.
Sighing in defeat, she placed her pen down and turned off the television. There was no point in trying to make them get along. They couldn't waste time.
Day 4 of Hell Week
"RISE AND SHINE MOTHER FU- Ahh!" A feminine voice boomed through the hall of the dorm building.
Alex Rider woke up with a start. He was having a magnificent dream. He was with his friends, Sabina and
Tom, running through the grassy plains in a splendid valley... playing rugby...
But then Mina had to ruin it.
He didn't want to be here. He hated it. He hated the people. He hated the food. But he did like his uniform.
Slowly, Alex got up from his bed. When the usual sleepy vision eventually wore off, he looked at the clock.
It was four am. The madness would start soon.
BOOM.
It had started with a bang.
Mina and Dimitri's morning brawl had started.
"What the hell is this?"
"I did not do that!"
"Like hell you didn't! Huh? This? This isn't a weapon... Hey, get back here! I just want to tell you something, I swear!"
Alex waited for the rest. In the mean time, he changed into his fresh, clean black uniform that always was neat and folded on the desk chair when he woke up.
The usual bickering from Mureithi and Luis had started. As usual, Luis was cursing in Spanish, while
Mureithi was shouting in an African language Alex could not quite recognize.
Alex knew that once he stepped out from his dorm, he would take part in the madness. He could just wait until everyone went to the field to avoid everyone, but he really needed to pee. Alex took a deep breath, then bolted out of him room to the bathroom.
He used the toilet then moved over to the sink and washed his hands and face. Then he brushed his teeth, then his hair. When he was finished, he was quite suprised that he hadn't gotten into an argument, or even a glare, from anyone.
Pleased with his success, he headed out to the field earlier then usual, skipping breakfast to avoid human contact.
He walked over to the shower room so he could go outside. When he got to the exit, he saw Mina blocking the doorway. She was grinning.
"Could you move?" Alex asked, kind of annoyed that she was showing signs of happiness .
"Do you really want to open the door?" She asked.
"Yes." Alex replied bluntly.
"Alright, suit yourself!" She said, then darted away.
Alex should have been suspicious, but he wasn't in the mood. He thoughlessly opened the door and stepped outside. As soon as he did, watery mud was thrown at him, covering the front of his clean, fresh uniform.
Alex stood in the doorway, mouth open and eyes glared.
He was appalled.
Dimitri was standing outside in his boxers with muddy hands and a suprised expression. He shouted, "UGH, YOU'RE NOT HER!" Then pushed past Alex.
Alex was pissed off. He stood in the doorway, completely frozen from his anger. Dimitri didn't even apologize!
To make matters even worst, Takeo walked into the room, told Alex to move, and when Alex didn't respond quick enough, he was shoved out of the way.
Don't give into the madness, don't give into the madness...
That was why Alex hated it there.
0500H: Forty Minutes Later
They were lined up on the field. The sergeant wasn't around, which meant that they had time to do whatever they wanted. Even if they didn't want to, the teens were bickering. Luis was arguing with Dimitri for the stupidest reason. Who misplaced Luis hairbrush? Not Dimitri. Yes, Luis saw Dimitri with it. No, Dimitri was using Mureithi's. Dimitri was using Mureithi's? Luis pushed Dimitri, who lost balanced and push Alex, who bumped into Takeo.
Takeo did not liked being bumped into, especially by Alex. Takeo glared at Alex then muttered something in Japanese.
"Oh-ho-ho!" Mina exclaimed, then looked at Alex. "He just called you a-"
"Shut up!" Takeo told Mina.
"Excuse me? You do not have the right to tell me to shut up." Mina snapped at Takeo.
"I can do what i want, aho." Takeo said, beginning to switch to Japanese.
"BAKA!" Mina exclaimed, speaking Japanese.
Mina and Takeo started screaming in Japanese, while Luis and Dimitri were shoving each other.
Alex looked and Mureithi, expecting some kind of fight. Mureithi returned the stare, then-
"ATTEN-TION!"
In a fraction of a second, the fighting and arguing stopped, and the agents/cadets jumped into their perfect line.
"I'VE HEARD ENOUGH OF YOUR FIGHTING!" The sergeant shouted, staring down the line.
"YOU ARE THE BEST OF YOUR COUNTRY, YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO-" The sergeant stopped when he saw Alex's uniform. It had a thin layer of dried mud Alex tried to clean off.
"RIDER, DID YOU TAKE A DUMP ALL OVER YOURSELF? DO WE NEED TO POTTY TRAIN YOU?"
Alex was silent as everyone sniggered. Stupid Dimitri...
"WELL!" The sergeant questioned.
"No sir..." Alex answered, very annoyed. The sniggering increased.
"THERE ARE CRAPPERS INSIDE THAT BUILDING, LEARN HOW TO USE IT!"
Mina, the only one who fully understood English slang, was turning red from trying to supress her laughter.
Alex was red with embarrassment.
"ALRIGHT YOU SMELLY MAGGOTS, TAKE 5 LAPS! AFTER THAT, YOU FILTHY MAGGOTS GET A DIFFERENT TRAINING SCHEDUAL! NOW GO!"
They ran.
As Alex ran, someone muttered something that sounded like "Poo-Head".
"I've been thinking, Alan, about ways for the Juniors to get along." Mrs. Jones was saying.
"Go on." Alan Blunt said. The two adults were in the lounge room where the six junior agents had first been introduced.
"My first thought was having all the Juniors teach other their martial art. What do you think?"
Blunt paused. "I think it is a horrible idea."
"Explain." Mrs. Jones said.
"They would be horrible teachers, more interested in the idea of hurting each other rather than teaching." Blunt replied.
"I see. Well, never fear. I have yet another idea." Mrs. Jones paused to eat a peppermint. "I was thinking that they could be put into teams and play sports against each other."
"Another terrible idea." Blunt said bluntly.
"Why? At least three of them would get along. We could mix up the teams and voila! Everyone gets along."
"Still a terrible idea. There would be three players on each team that would be very harsh and critical if one made a mistake. They would never get along."
"Oh. Right..."
"Is that all?" Blunt asked.
Mrs. Jones nodded.
"Are you feeling alright?"
She rubbed her temples. "I haven't slept in a while, that's all."
"I see." Blunt started. "I'll take care of the operation. You need to rest."
"Thank you." Mrs. Jones said, and decided to fall asleep on a nearby couch.
Alan Blunt stood up and left the room. He decided to go to his office. There, he would make plans for the junior agents and send them to the training facility.
He already had an idea that would possibly help them get along.
AN: Happy Reviewings! (hint hint)
