Gerti Saves The Day: Chapter One
It was a warm but breezy day Carmen noticed as she ate in her roomy kitchen in the Cortez house. It was a Saturday afternoon and Carmen Cortez was home alone with her little brother Juni Cortez and who knows what he was doing in his room. Carmen and Juni's parents, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez, were currently busy at the OSS and their Uncle Machete was at work at his spy shop.
"Whatcha doing, Carmen?" The voice of her 14-year-old brother brought Carmen back to reality, rather sharply.
"Nothing." Carmen replied. Juni sat at the table, across from Carmen.
"Mmhmm." Juni raised an eyebrow.
"So, have you talked to Alexandra lately?" Carmen asked, taking a sip of her soda. Alexandra was the President's daughter and Carmen knew Juni nursed a soft spot for Alexandra ever since before he saved her at a theme park.
"I think she lost interest in me." He replied, taking a cookie from a tray that their Thumb-Thumb brought over to the two of them. He began to eat it as he stared at the T.V., which was currently playing his favorite show, "Floop's Fooglies".
Further into the afternoon, which time had passed silently, the front door opened and Gregorio and Ingrid came in, both looking a bit on the tired side. Gregorio dropped his lab coat on the couch and came into the kitchen.
"Have you two done anything today?" Gregorio asked, pouring himself coffee.
"I went for a small run, Dad." Carmen replied, giving her father a hug.
"That's good." Ingrid said, walking in from her room that she shared with Gregorio.
"How did work go, Dad?" Juni asked, tearing his eyes from the T.V. Gregorio sighed and glanced at Ingrid. She shrugged and sat down.
"It . . . went . . . well . . . " Gregorio replied, not quite meeting Juni's gaze. He picked up a newspaper that was lying around right as the T.V. beeped and went black. He threw his paper aside as a man's face appeared on the screen, then motioned to the others to be quiet.
"Cortezes. I have an assignment for you." The man said, adjusting the black strip that covered his eyes.
"We're ready, Devlin." Ingrid and Gregorio replied instantly.
"Umm . . . Ingrid, Gregorio. This assignment is for Carmen and Juni." Carmen and Juni exchanged looks. "I need you to come to HQ. Donnagon Giggles will explain the assignment to you."
Carmen and Juni nodded as the screen went flickered and went back to the T.V. show. Juni glanced at their parents and they shrugged.
At HQ, Juni and Carmen sauntered down the corridor together in their uniforms, occasionally glancing at the other O.S.S. members at work. They were almost to the briefing room when two too-familiar people stepped in their way. One of them let out a high-pitched giggle that was all-too familiar.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Gary Giggles giggled again as Juni scowled.
"Out of the way, Gary. We have to be somewhere important." Juni said, rolling his eyes. Gary looked at his younger blonde sister, Gerti Giggles, who shrugged.
"I'm sorry to say, cheese ball, but we got your assignment." Gary smirked and looked at Carmen, who had her arms crossed. "Wow, you look great, Carmen." Juni rolled his eyes again.
Suddenly, Carmen and Juni's watches beeped and a familiar man's voice floated through.
"Carmen, Juni, we need your help. We're over by the theme park." Carmen sighed and kicked her jet shoes into action and flew off with a little wave to Gary and Gerti. Juni followed, with one last glare at Gary.
"That little cheese ball . . . I want to hurt him . . . " Gary growled, staring in the direction that Juni and Carmen had went. Gerti grabbed his arm.
"Save it for later. The Cortezes may need backup." Gerti kicked her jet shoes into action and flew off after Carmen and Juni, with Gary not far behind.
Over near the theme park, Dinky Wink's, Carmen and Juni arrived to find a huge crowd surrounding a 100-foot tree. They made their way to the front, where Donnagon Giggles was standing.
"Good. You're here. We need you to go up there." Donnagon pointed to a branch that was quite a ways up. They could distinctly see something dark up on the branch about 60 feet up, which looked fragile.
"Carmen, Juni, there is a young girl up there that won't come down. The weight of any of the other O.S.S. agents would make that branch snap, which would injure not only themselves, but the girl herself." Donnagon looked worried as he watched the girl.
"We're on it, Donnagon." Carmen said, kicking her shoes back into action. She motioned to Juni to come with her and they made their way into the branches of the tree and began to climb toward the girl. Juni made it first and climbed on the branch that the girl was on. He started to edge close to the girl, watching his step as he went.
When he looked at the girl, he noticed that she had deep green eyes that looked pretty with her waist-length jet black hair. She was deathly pale and actually did not look scared that she was 60 feet off the ground. Juni came closer and the girl narrowed her eyes.
"Who are you? Don't get any closer." The girl said, venom in her eyes.
"I'm Juni Cortez, agent of the O.S.S. Please come down. You're scaring everyone." Juni replied, extending his hand to the girl. The girl backed up against the tree trunk and continued to glare at Juni.
"Juni, we haven't got all day!" Carmen popped up next to her little brother. "We have guests." She motioned down at the base of the tree. Juni put on his glasses and focused on two people who were at the base.
"Gary and Gerti! What are they doing here? I thought they had a mission to go on." Juni said angrily.
"I don't know. I suppose they are here because they are Donnagon's kids, remember that. But come on! We need to get her down so that they can't interfere." Carmen replied, looking at the girl fully for the first time.
"Look, girl. We haven't got all day here. Just come down and be a good little girl. Why are you even up here in the first place?" Carmen asked impatiently.
"I got stuck, thank you very much." The girl retorted.
"Please come down." Juni went right up the girl, putting his hand out to her. The girl reluctantly took it and Juni took her down to the base, where Donnagon and the others waited. Carmen landed right behind him and watched as Donnagon made sure the girl was okay,
"What's your name?" Donnagon asked the girl.
"Anna, sir. Anna Allen." The girl replied. Carmen raised an eyebrow,
"Well..Anna. We are going to go back to the headquarters of the O.S.S. Do you have any parents?" Donnagon began leading the girl to a car that awaited him and the kids.
"No, sir." Anna looked a bit ragged, due to her black clothes being torn.
"All right then. You will come with us to HQ. You can stay with us there." Anna nodded and they all got in the car, except for Carmen and Juni, who said they would fly over there.
As the car drove away, Anna looked back at the Cortez kids, a small smirk playing at the edges of her mouth.
"Juni," Juni snapped out of his reverie and looked at Carmen.
"What, Carmen? That girl looks familiar." Juni said, watching the car out of the corner of his eye.
"Of course she does. Don't you remember?" Carmen asked. Juni slowly looked back at his sister, kind of scared.
"Don't tell me that is . . . " Juni began to whisper, looking a bit scared.
"Anna Lydia Allen." Carmen finished.
"She's that girl that was Gabriel Allen's daughter, right?" Juni asked.
"Yep. He tried to take over the world and we, along with Mom and Dad, made sure Anna and her twin brother were put in another family, due to his abuse." Carmen replied, a smirk on her face.
"Oh yeah. Well . . . we better get back to HQ. Anna might try to stir trouble. Also, Donnagon wanted to talk to us there." Juni said, kicking his shoes and flying off, Carmen on his tail.
Carmen and Juni walked into Donnagon's office later, and they saw Anna was in there too. Her old tattered clothes were gone and were replaced with the typical Spy Kid uniform. Her long black hair was tied back into a shiny pony tail and she was sitting at Donnagon's desk. Donnagon was talking to his wife, Francesca Giggles. They turned when Carmen and Juni entered.
"Ah, Carmen and Juni. I need to show you something. Please follow me. Anna, you can come with us." Donnagon led the way out of the room, with the others following.
Wow...I'm sorry that I couldn't get farther...but it leaves you at a great spot to speculate what happens next! What will Donnagon Giggles show Carmen and Juni Cortez, along with his wife Francesca Giggles, and mysterious, mischievous, Anna Allen, who's past Donnagon does not know but the Cortezes do? Will we get to meet the rest of Anna's family? Is she a good sweet innocent angel or is she a little devil, who only wants to cause trouble? We'll see in Chapter 2 of "Gerti saves the Day". Don't worry, Gerti will show up soon. More to come and it will be ASAP!