Hello everyone!

GUESS WHAT. I'm exhausted and in a lot of pain...hate being sick… But I'm going to write this anyway. No long author's note, (which personally, I find annoying of me, making you read all that nonsense), but sometimes I just can't help get carried away. :) So, here you go…

Chapter Two: Coffee and Tea

Alright, if I just do this as quickly as possible without making any noise maybe she won't notice me. Ten was in the hallway between Pandora's office and the lounge. Fuck, her door is open. He peeked inside, and was happy to see she was sitting at her desk busy with someone on the phone. He didn't hesitate to run into the lounge before she'd look up.

"Oi—" Bollocks. Should've looked where you were going instead of watching Panda... stupid twat…

"Sorry, Mr. Hoff" Hot coffee was splattered over the tall and heavy man standing in front of Cook. He was wiping away the liquid that had gotten in his thick brown mustache, while Cook looked for a few paper towels to hand him. Cook hid how happy he was that none of the coffee had landed on himself, he was looking spiffy today, and it would be a shame if his new jeans had been trashed.

"Now the meetings going to be late you cheeky little bas—" He grumbled but suddenly stopped, Cook watched as the man's eyes followed someone behind him.

"Good morning Mr. Hoff!" Damn. I know that voice… Don't turn around. Maybe she won't notice you...

"Good morning… Ten!" The blonde girl stepped between the two men and took a good look at the both of them. There goes any chance of getting a quick coffee without being sucked in by Panda-pops…

"Wow. You've got to be careful Mr. Hoff, that coffee is hot enough to leave a nasty burn! You probably stained that fine shirt and suit jacket of yours, must've cost you a fortune!" She gave him a look of concern, not noticing Cook trying to bite his lip to hold in the laughter. Yeah, better watch where you're going you old bint…no thanks to this 'cheeky little bastard'…

Mr. Hoff too bit his lip to avoid blowing up at the boy in front of him, and just muttered curses as he pushed pass the two before exiting the room with his now mostly-empty coffee cup in hand.

With the older man out of the room, Pandora now turned to give Cook her full attention. She was a quirky gal and very clueless. The only reason she was in this agency was because she was the daughter of someone managing something else important, and nobody wanted to piss her father off. Which is why Mr. Hoff held his tongue, and why Cook didn't just rudely run out at the sight of her whimsical smile.

"I haven't seen you around lately! It's like you've been avoiding me or something!" she laughed. Hmm. Maybe she isn't that clueless. Cook laughed with her so that she shouldn't actually think that was the case, almost over-doing it by holding his belly and leaning back into the chuckle."Anyways, I was hoping you could stop by for tea sometime with that silly friend of yours… Nine! She's always blabbing on about nonsense and it always gives me a good case of the giggles. I haven't had company in awhile, and you two are just a bucket of fun, a promise for a whizzer time!"

"Err, Re—" Cook cleared his throat," Nine and I have been very busy lately… lots of agency work, so I don't know if we have time to sit and chat over tea," as fun having tea with a nutter is…, "which reminds me, I have a very important meeting to get to, so if I can just get some co—" Cook started to move past her to get to the coffee maker and managed to grab two unused hot cups.

"A meeting! I didn't know there was a meeting today! Sounds brill!" Her eyes lit up.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Fuck. That's because you weren't supposed to know. He started making the coffee and while the machine was working he turned to Pandora, slightly feeling bad at having to be the one to burst her bubble of excitement. You're the one who blew the bubble up in the first place, it's only fair if you're the one to pop it too.

"Listen, Panda, can I call you that?" She nodded happily before he continued, "The meeting is a big secret so you can't talk about it, alright?" She nodded. Good.

"I won't tell anyone! Where and when is it? I have all of the afternoon free!" Fuck. Scratch that last 'good'.

"Panda," He emphasized her name, hoping it would make-up for the offensive thing he was about to say, "You can't come. It's for Nine and I, that's it." Not to mention all the officials, executives, operatives, field-experts, mission leaders, squads, and pretty much everyone else…He turned back to the now-ready coffee and dispensed it into the two cups to avoid looking at the disappointment at the girl's face.

"Oh. Sure. You and Nine. I get it." I don't know what gave her the impression that she was friends with Nine and I… she always wanted to get in on whatever the two of us were doing… Fuck, don't do it Cook. You'll regret it. Don't do it. DON'T DO IT.

"We'll come for tea some time okay?" Stupid bastard. Shouldn't have done it. I'm too nice for my own good.

"That's wonderful Ten! I'm super-duper excited; I'll go check my schedule for the perfect day! Enjoy your meeting!" She skipped happily out of the lounge and back to her office.

Cook took the coffees and went back down the hallway to where the crowds of people were waiting by the two large brown doors. It was easy for him to spot the person he was looking for, just by the vibrant red hair among all the neutral colors.

"How'd it go?" Nine took her coffee from his hands and observed as he looked away from her nervously. "Alright, what did you do…?" She's known Ten long enough to know exactly what even the smallest of his movements mean, and right now they were telling her he's done something she isn't going to like.

"I promised Pandora we'd come for tea." He let out a weak smile.

"You twat." She clapped him over the side of the head. "I thought you were able to get me a simple cup of coffee without getting us into anything we'd regret." She was now crossing her arms looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I said, some time. Not definite." He gave her a small cheeky grin.

"Sorry?" She was confused.

"I didn't tell her exactly when, I just said some time. Could be in twenty years perhaps in a hundred." His cheeky grin was now wide and glowing.

"You are such a little boy, with your little word tricks." She sipped her coffee, hiding her laugh.

"You know you love it, Red."

The girl shifted on her legs and checked her watch.

"Where is that daft Hoff, he's supposed to be here to start the meeting…"

Cook's classic smile returned, and Red raised her eyebrow again, knowing him, he obviously had something to do with it.

"He spilled his coffee, probably cleaning up."

"He spilled his coffee? Or you…"

He just winked at her and turned to see the heavy man they had just been talking about coming down the hallway looking annoyed. New shirt. Bet you keep a nice stack of them in your nice big office. Oh look, and you got yourself another coffee too. He noticed the new cup that didn't have spill stains down the sides in his hand.

Ten was smart enough not to get in the man's way twice in one day, so he quickly shuffled behind Nine and watched as the others parted and allowed Mr. Hoff open the doors do the meeting room.

"Holy shit." Ten whispered into Nine's ears. This wasn't the ordinary conference room they went to, this one was only for extremely special and important briefings. The room was like a circular stadium that seated at least five-hundred, now quickly filling up with crowds coming from doors in each direction. The facility was huge and split into different factions, generally the different factions didn't mix, but today was irregular. In the center was a higher seating area kind of like what the supreme justice sit's on in a courtroom. However, this had seating for all of the Head Executives, about twelve in total.

Cook and Red were the last ones to go in, finding seats that weren't too close too be in the Executives eye-sight, but far enough that the two could make out what was going on clearly . They watched as Mr. Hoff took a small seat that was directly in front of the Executives specially for him. He read a few papers on the desk in front of him before standing up, looking to make sure all the H.E. (Head Executives) were there, and all the doors to the room were shut, before speaking.

"Morning, everyone." He looked around, probably to make eye-contact with Cook, to show he intentionally didn't say 'good' morning. "This conference today is to let everyone know that we will be making changes within the agency. From now on there will be an even higher level of confidentiality among us, and the briefings will be much more private, only for the H.E. and selected agents to hear. By noon, we expect everyone to have handed in their new code contract signed which will be handed out as you exit. Should you fail to do so, you will be removed from the premises with no chance of returning. We are doing this to ensure that our most classified missions will not be leaked out into the public, and to avoid moles within the agency itself, if you have any questions you may ask me and only me, because no one else will have the correct answer other than the very busy H.E.'s." He turns do the H.E.'s and they all nod before he turns back to addressing the crowd. "Please be sure to memorize all the new rules by tomorrow. That concludes this conference. Attendees dismissed."

Everyone started to quickly leave the room, while one of the H.E.'s leaned into the microphone in front of him. "All but Agent Ten and Agent Nine." Cook and Red looked to each other and started to walk down towards the center of the room as the rest of the people vanished into the hallways outside.

Nine and Ten took a seat at the two chairs that rose out of the floor from trap doors for them to sit in. They watched as sound proof walls started to unfold blocking all the exits as well as locking together into place. It was then that Ten noticed that Mr. Hoff had also had to leave the room, so now it was only him, Red, and the H.E.s. The room was completely silent until a man with black hair slicked back in an expensive suit spoke up.

"Congratulations Agents Ten and Nine. You have been specially selected for our first Level Five operation. Never before has our Agency had a mission that is as classified, dangerous, or important as this. As pressuring and scary as it may sound, we chose you because throughout your missions we have taken into account that you both work extremely well together and have done excessively well on each task we gave you. I warn you that this mission will be unlike any other we have given you. And once we tell you what it is, your choices are only to accept it or have your memories wiped. Do you understand?"

Both nodded. They did have a tinge of fear, but the adrenaline and honor of being given such a mission was enough to make them push away any irrationalism of what they were being currently told.

"Please sign the sheets beneath your seats before I continue the briefing." Red and Cook foolishly enough only skimmed through the documents without paying much attention and signed their signatures without second guessing themselves.

"Good. Now I will tell you exactly what you have to do, but under no circumstances are we going to answer your questions, certain information is best not for you to know while going through with the mission. At any point during the mission you may question the morals of your operation remember that we wouldn't ask you to do anything unless it was absolutely necessary. And the deeper you get, the less option there is for you to back out. Let me restate that, wiping your memory would not be sufficient once you are active in the field, the only way to back out would be to be terminated."

Red swallowed loudly enough for Cook to notice that she was nervous about exactly what they were getting into now. He tried to give her an encouraging smile, but under the intent stare of the H.E.s it didn't seem so appropriate for him to turn his attention away for even a second.

"When you get to your destination we will tell you step by step what you must do. Do not hesitate to follow orders or you will be terminated, if not by us, by the enemy. Be prepared to leave at seven tomorrow morning. Everything you need will be packed for you. Do not ask the people taking you any questions; do not talk to anyone unless we say so. It would be preferable if you talked to each other as little as possible. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." They shouted respectfully.

"Do you understand the terms?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you accept the active mission?"

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed."

They both stood up, nodded to the H.E.s in acknowledgement before exiting one of the unblocked exits.

"Shit, this is some deep stuff Nine."

"Think we can do it?" She looked deep in her friend's eyes for assurance. The red-head was always extremely confident but something about this operation seemed different and not knowing anything about it at all or being allowed to ask, only being allowed to rely on getting instructions was reason enough for her to worry.

"I think we can do anything." He smiled at her, hiding his own nervousness by putting on a front, and wrapping an arm around her. "Let's head out to that range I wanted to go to. It's our last normal day, let's take advantage of it, and go fucking mental!"

"Cook, we can't go fucking mental before a mission… especially one like this…"

"True. But we can still try and have a good fucking time. Relax Red, let Cookie take your worries away."

He gave her the cheeky grin giving her no choice but to submit to its manipulative powers. She wanted to trust him enough that she let herself forget about worrying at least long enough to enjoy the rest of the day. That night they had been instructed to sleep in an Agency apartment so they would be good to go right away. They both shared a bed, even though they were given a room with two. They held each other, each not wanting to admit to the other that they were in fact scared about tomorrow, just giving each other the comfort of being cuddled.

HOPE YOU LIKED IT! :D I'm kind of excited about this story… it's going to go be AWESOME. Lotza action up ahead. Lotza mysteriousness. WOW. Got another idea.

**Red and Cook aren't romantically involved incase you are worried…. Just making that clear. ;)

Please leave a review! (THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS/ALERTS/FAVS/PMs/KISSES)

-Shira