Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! You really made my day. It's people like you who actually got me to keep writing rather than scrapping this fanfic and deactivating my account and finding a nice hole that I can crawl in and die because of all the humiliation from not being able to write a decent fanfic (all the readers of this fic too!) I actually got most of the reviews during school hours so I was grinning like an idiot while my teacher(s) were wondering why.
Anyway, here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. I'm in my last two weeks of school for the year so I'm wrapping up all my assignments (in case you don't know, I'm Australian so I finish my school year in December). I'll be probably uploading more/less during the holidays because it is the holidays but also because I'm going away…..
So here it is:
DISCLAIMER: Really hate doing these as it brings me back to my reality of not owning these amazing series by Robert Muchamore and Anthony Horrowitz…damn you reality!
Zara Asker was tired of having to change her clothes. The current one she was wearing had been artistically patterned with a mixture of vomit, mushed up food, and other un-nameable, but probably baby related substances. It was the price she had to pay to be a mother and though she loved the role, and her children, some things, such as her lovely ensemble, make her have to rethink her definition of 'love.'
However, the four CHERUB agents in front of her didn't notice their chairwoman's attire as they were too busy reading the mission briefing that they had just been given.
**CLASSIFIED**
MISSION BRIEFING
FOR JAMES ADAMS, BRUCE NORRIS, KYLE BLUEMAN,
KERRY CHANG, WILSON BURWELL, SERENA HOLLOWAY AND ALEX RIDER
DO NOT REMOVE FROM ROOM 153
DO NOT COPY OR MAKE NOTES
HELP EARTH
Previously Encountered by agents JAMES ADAMS and LAUREN ADAMS, HELP EARTH is a terrorist organisation whose goal is to eliminate all threats to the environment and 'save' the Earth. All agents should been updated on the recent movements of Help Earth (for more information see HELP EARTH file). Known members include Susie Regan, Fredrick 'Fred' Jameson and Brian 'Bungle' Evans.
SCORPIA
SCORPIA is a terrorist agency that is currently responsible for a tenth of the world's terrorism, and has quickly risen to one of the top ten of most dangerous organisations in the lists every intelligence organisation in the world. They were encountered and defeated by agent ALEX RIDER during multiple missions. SCORPIA related missions are usually given to MI6 agents due to the high fatality rates when facing them. Known members include Zeljan Kurst, Major Winston Yu, Julia Rothman, Max Grendel, Levi Kroll and Doctor Three (for more information see SCORPIA file).
MISSION DETAILS
HELP EARTH have teamed up with SCORPIA to kidnap the executive members of Morris Oils- a leading oil company who were responsible for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill earlier this year. They are demanding a certain number of things which, unless fulfilled by the end of the month by CEO Matthew Morris, will mean the certain deaths of the executive members (for more see letter to CEO of Morris Oils). The CHERUB agents and ALEX RIDER will move into the same street as Fredrick 'Fred' Jameson- known leader of Help Earth. All agents will keep the same names changing their last names, however, to Thompson. As the mission is based in the United States of America, all agents will be working with CIA agents Wilson Burwell and Serena Holloway who will take on the role of adopted parents in the mission.
MISSION OBJECTIVE
Agents will try to befriend the children of Fredrick Jameson whom he is very close to. Each agent will have a specific target to befriend:
Dani Jameson (15)- Kerry Chang
Trevor Jameson (16)-James Adams
Robbie Jameson (16)- Bruce Norris
Connie Jameson (17)-Kyle Blueman
ALEX RIDER shall not have a target as he is to provide protection and relay information back to MI6, the CIA and CHERUB. Agent Rider shall also be tasked with finding out SCORPIA's role in this kidnapping. All agents have been put in most of their classes with their targets without any suspicion.
Once agents have made friends, they will try to be invited to the Jameson home where agents will be tasked with planting listening devices. Agents will also try to spy around the house for any clues to the whereabouts of the hostages and the full extent of Help Earth's plans. Any information from the CHERUB agents should be immediately relayed to agents RIDER, BURWELL or HOLLOWAY for sending to MI6, CIA and CHERUB.
NOTE: ON THE 18TH OF NOVEMBER 2011 THIS MISSION WAS REVIEWED AND PASSED BY THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE ON THE CONDITION THAT ALL PARTAKING AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:
This mission did not pass the ethics committee without interference from the board of MI5 as this mission is highly important and there is no other option. This mission is rated EXTREME RISK and all CHERUB agents have the right to refuse and withdraw from the mission at any time of their choosing. Agents will be at extreme risk to violence, torture and chemicals.
FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES THIS MISSION BRIEFING DOES NOT EXIST AND WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IF TAKEN OUT OF ROOM 153.
James Adams couldn't concentrate on the rest of the mission briefing through the highly annoying sound of Kerry Chang humming 'What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction*. He didn't get why she liked them so much. Sure, they had millions of girls around the world in love with them and had amazing looks and personalities, but surely he was a better alternative? James couldn't get a grasp of a world where Kerry Chang was not absolutely crazy about him. However, he was also slightly thankful. At least it was One Direction. He shuddered as he thought about Kerry's The Wanted** stage.
Then Zara cleared her throat.
"Uh..hum…..So agents, what do you think of the mission?"
Kerry, being the good little girl she is, shot her hand up and waited until Zara finally called upon her before talking.
"Well, it seems…..uh….dangerous? I know that it says that there are no other options but it is something so much more challenging than we, us CHERUB agents, have ever faced. Like, I won't pass up this opportunity but I am a little bit worried about it."
"Thank you Kerry for your opinion." Said Zara "But, we have your safety covered. MI6 has sent one of their agents for your protection, as stated in the mission briefing."
"Yeah Kerry," James added. "I would never have thought that you would be the one to make a daft comment…..OW!"
James cried out in pain as Kerry slapped him. He spent the next couple of moments nursing his cheek complete with a new red handprint, while giving Kerry 'I'm-so-going-to-kill-you-once-we-are- out-of-this-office' looks every time Zara was busy talking to Bruce or Kyle.
"…I agree with you Kyle. I'm quite curious to meet Agent Rider. I've read his file and it is quite impressive. I'm sure that he and the CIA agents will be arriving soon…Oh, sorry I have to take this, its agent Burwell. Just chat amongst yourselves while I do."
As Zara took the call, Bruce pulled up his chair closer to the others so that they could chat.
"So…..how's life?"
Kyle sat with a confused look on his face for a worrying amount of time before finally responding.
"Um….not bad actually; like I'm still looking for a boyfriend and all but besides that I'm pretty good."
Then, Zara interrupted the little get together.
"Bad news everyone; there's been an accident on the three agents will be quite late. I think you all should just return to your classes and I'll call you all when they're about ten minutes away."
Disappointed at having to return to their dull history class, the four CHERUB agents trudged out of the office.
Alex was actually quite surprised when the two black suited men didn't lead him straight to a car, but two, rather ordinarily dressed, people.
"Hello, you must be Alex. I'm agent Wilson Burwell and she is agent Serena Holloway. We're Americans, from the CIA. I'm not sure if you have been informed, but as the mission we will be undertaking is in the USA, we will also be partaking in it. We've heard so much about you from Mr Byrne. He speaks very highly of you."
Alex registered the American accent even before the agent confirmed that he was American. Honestly, he wasn't a baby. You don't need to tell someone your nationality if they could most likely guess it from your very strong and very recognisable accent.
"Um….no, I haven't been informed that the mission is in America. I was told by my superiors that I will receive a full mission briefing when we arrive at the CHERUB headquarters…That's very nice of Mr Byrne to say that about me…
Alex tried to keep as professional as possible with the two agents but the conversation was too awkward for him to do it. What was there to talk about?
After quite a long silence between the three agents, agent Holloway decided to break the silence.
"I think we should get going shouldn't we?"
Nods and murmurs were given in reply as the three agents took the elevator to the underground car park where a brand new Mercedes was waiting for them.
Alex was impressed. Guessing that MI6 provided the car, he was surprised this car, out of all other cars, was given to them to use. He knew that MI6 had a ginormous*** budget but he expected them to be slightly more thrifty. However, he wasn't complaining at all as he slid into the back seat and took in the new-car smell and the soft leather seats.
Agent Burwell slammed his foot on the accelerator and the three agents made their way to CHERUB.
"Could James Adams, Kerry Chang, Bruce Norris and Kyle Blueman please make their way to the Chairwoman's office immediately? Do not return to your rooms to store your books first."
Zara's high-pitched voice rang through the loud speaker as she called the four CHERUB agents to her office. It was quite embarrassing that she called them back to her office only ten minutes after sending them back to their classes. Apparently the three agents had found another route that bypassed the M4 and had allowed them to arrive at CHERUB campus earlier.
The four CHERUB agents raced down the corridor to Zara's office. They were thanking God that they only had to endure fifteen minutes of listening to Mrs Collins drawling on about the importance of the Battle of Hastings to British history. The four would have broken down the door to Zara's office because of the extra momentum that they had after running that hard if the door to her office wasn't already opened. With the door open, they crashed into Zara instead.
The four agents, slightly smelling vomit and baby powder in their mouths after involuntarily hugging Zara, sat down on the chairs that had been set out trying to look as professional as possible for the coming agents.
Alex felt the car slow down and knew that they had arrived at CHERUB. Looking outside the window, he saw a couple football fields, uniform, modern buildings and in the distance, some kind of course- quite similar (but easier-looking) to the assault course in the SAS.
Alex got out of the car and was met by a bunch of men and women with the same smug 'I'm better than you because I belong to a super-secret spy organisation' look that the MI6 men had. Thankfully, none of them were wearing suits.
Alex, agent Burwell and agent Holloway were made to walk through metal detectors, undergo a full x ray (apparently an enemy spy once came in with a tracker dug into his femur bone) and a full strip search. Alex was thoroughly annoyed. Although this precaution was only nearly as bad as his airport trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco**** (he did not even want to think about that), it was still a paranoid and useless measure that wasted precious time. Agents Burwell and Holloway weren't as emotional about the safety precautions. Being Americans, they were quite used to these searches.
A good forty five minutes later, the three agents were being led to the buildings by one of the men who had now been revealed to be an instructor at CHERUB. The three were given an orange t-shirt with the CHERUB logo on it. As much as Agent Holloway tried to supress the thought, she couldn't help but scrutinise the hideous shade of orange the CHERUB people chose for their shirt. Being a spy organisation, t-shirt colour was probably the least of their priorities.
The trio were led into the building where children ranging from about eight years old to those in their late teens were hurrying for (presumably) their next class. Every pair of eyes was on them but they were quickly ushered away to a side door that led into an office.
A rather motherly looking woman sat behind a large wooden desk. As there was a desk plate saying 'Chairwoman' on it, Alex made a very informed guess that this was the chairwoman of CHERUB.
"Ah…. Hello agents. Welcome to CHERUB. My name is Zara Asker, and I am the chairwoman of CHEURB. These are some of my agents. You will be working with them on the mission."
Zara gestured to the four teenagers who were seated on chairs near to the book case. They had an obvious 'I'm-trying-to-figure-you-out' look that they were trying to hide but were failing- badly.
Alex studied the four agents closely. There were three boys and one girl. Two of the boys were rather lankily built but had a hard, toned body that suggested that they had been working out a lot. The other was very stocky and muscular- the kind you found in rugby players. He had close-cropped blond hair and the type of face that you just want to slap the smirk out of. The girl was Asian- dark hair, dark eyes, slender frame and rather short. She looked like the type of person to spend half her life with her nose in a book and Alex could quite picture her to be Hermione Granger-like.
Alex's observation only took a couple of seconds so everyone present in the room only noted a short pause before he started talking.
"Well, I was half expecting 'The Flock' from Maximum Ride considering your organisation's name is CHERUB. Hmm…. 'The Flock' may not be bad to work with someday, definitely will be interesting though… Anyway, you four will have to do. Not meaning to be rude, but I don't know your names. Care to fix that? I'm Alex by the way."
Bruce and James stared at Alex dumb-founded. Nobody had every addressed them with anything less than 'impressive!' Being CHERUB agents, child secret agents, they were considered prodigies, talented, extraordinary. Maybe it was because Alex was from MI6. Maybe it was just that his personality was more annoying than James'. Maybe it was because this agent was also a child. The CHERUB agents were discussing before why an MI6 agent would be needed if there were already two CIA agents on the mission. Now they understood. Alex was needed for where the CIA agents couldn't protect them without being to conspicuous. Alex could blend in with them- he was undercover protection.
While Bruce and James just looked at Alex funny with their jaws dropped open, Kerry proceeded to maintain any remaining pride CHERUB had in front of the three senior agents.
"Well, I'm Kerry, the blonde one is James, the shorter dark-haired one is Kyle and the weird looking one is Bruce."
A long silence invaded the room as the agents lacked anything to talk about. Zara decided to break it by talking in a very loud voice.
"So agents Burwell, Holloway and Rider, would you like to read the mission briefing?"
*I love One Direction! If you don't know who they are, save yourselves and find out who they are (most awesome band in the world with awesome songs)
** And I love The Wanted too! (Reread everything in the previous explanation minus the first sentence).
***Love that word. Don't you?
**** No offence to any of my American readers, but the experiences I have of going through your airports aren't that great. Like our Australian airports are pretty bad but nothing can be worse than that airport screening at LAX that took OVER 1 HOUR to get through (shudders).
YAY! How was that for update time? I was writing this through classes since my exams are over now and we're really only watching movies (somehow related to the topic we're studying in the subject) in classes.
On mentioning exams…
I've gotten AMAZING marks (especially in English) for all my exams. Just goes to show you. Write fanfictions instead of studying and you'll ace your exams.
Thanks for reading this chapter and please review (or else)…..
burnt-rose15