Disclaimer: I own nothing, I don't even own my own mind…
A/N: Sorry for the long pause between this chapter and the last one I just needed to sort some things out about this story, anyways here is the next chapter.
FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES, THESE CHILDREN DO NOT EXIST.
Chapter One
Rachel woke up in a single bedroom packed TV, kitchen and en-suite bathroom. The bed was a small double and she was laying underneath a white quilt that was soft to the touch. She moved to get up and noticed that she was only wearing nothing but her underwear, the clothes she last remembered wearing were nowhere to be seen and a clean set of clothes sat on a wooden chair next to a empty desk. Getting up she wandered over to the desk and held up the orange shirt that laid on top of the pile. On it was a winged baby sitting on top of the world underneath that were the initials C.H.E.R.U.B.
"They couldn't have chosen a colour that suited me? Like baby blue or something, but orange…yuck. Oh great I'm talking to myself, I'm here for 5 minutes and already I'm going mad." she put on the orange shirt and then the green military style trousers. She looked around the room and saw the main door. After checking the room once more to make sure she hadn't missed anything like 'stay here' or 'wait till such and such arrives' she exited the room and found herself in the middle of a long corridor with a lift at the end next door to a staircase that looked barely used. Seeing a young girl about 2 years older than her coming from the direction of the lift Rachel asked "excuse me…"
"Cant talk to orange" the girl smiled sadly and pointed towards the lift before continuing her walk down the corridor. Rachel was taken aback by the reply but followed the girls finger until reached the lift. She pressed the button and the lift doors opened revealing a small compartment with three people in it. Rachel entered and turned to ask one of them for help. The white shirt replied "can't talk to orange" but as the doors closed he pressed the button for ground floor. The man got out at the next level along with the lifts other two occupants leaving Rachel feeling very alone in the middle of a rather imposing lift.
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Ara sat twiddling her thumbs whilst waiting for a Dr McAfferty to turn up. Looking around the room she saw shelves of books and a window looking out on to a turf where many children all in different coloured shirts were playing football. She jumped when the door opened and an old man stepped into the room.
"Ah you must be Araventhy. Welcome to CHERUB campus, I'm Dr McAfferty. More commonly known as Mac to those who aren't in trouble." He reached over and shook her hand before settling down behind the desk and facing Ara.
"Err…Hi I guess. Where am I?"
"CHERUB campus."
"Ok, why am I here?"
"We felt that you have shown some potential and decided to invite you here."
"And here is…"
"CHERUB campus."
"and how did I get here?"
"We slipped you a sleeping pill last night whilst you had dinner at your foster home. No ill affects I hope."
"no, not unless you count the huge amount of confusion at being here."
"Were sorry about that but we must maintain top security at all times."
"I see…"
"now what do you think of us so far?"
"I don't know, ok I guess."
"how would you feel about living here?"
"Well alright but where is here exactly?"
"I cant tell you that I am afraid."
"Huh."
"We have many facilities here at CHERUB including an on site gym, swimming pool and school. All of our students receive top marks in every subject they take and every student takes at least two foreign languages. Would you like to be one of those students?"
"What do I have to do to get in?"
"We have a couple criteria for new residents. First you will have to sit an entrance exam. The second is slightly different from what you would normally expect, you have to agree to become an agent for British Intelligence."
"Ok then…I guess…wait what?!"
"CHERUB is a part of the British Intelligence service."
"But that means that…that you use children as…"
"Spies, yes."
"But why?"
"because children are less likely to be suspected by a terrorist to be a spy. Children can get information that adults cannot, that's what CHERUB does. We use children to capture criminals, now are you in or out?"
"I think so."
"excellent, follow me."
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Emma walked into a dojo behind Mac and her eyes were met by about fifteen kids sparring with each other each wearing belts either brown or black. Walking past them she was led into a smaller room with several blue mats spread out in the centre. A small girl with long black hair which was tied up in a pony tail stood to the side of the room doing stretches.
"Take off your shoes and socks Emma. This is Kerry she will be your sparring partner for the test."
"What's your writing arm?" Kerry asked Emma whilst moving into position on the edge of the mat.
"I write with my right arm." Emma replied slightly confused about the question but following Kerry's movements with her eyes.
"rules." Mac interrupted, "The first to win five submissions is the winner. An opponent can submit by speaking or by tapping her hand on the mat. Either opponent can withdraw from the bout at any time. You can do anything to get a submission except hitting the breasts or eye gouging. Do you both understand?" Two nods were his reply. He handed a gum shield to both Kerry and Emma and stood back off the mat. "ready? Begin."
Kerry moved forwards swiftly and moved to punch Emma in the face to find that she wasn't there. Falling into defence mode she heard a movement behind her and ducked in time to see a foot flying across where she had been just moments before. She moved and knocked Emma off her feet before twisting her arm into a painful lock.
"Submit?" She said leaning heavily on Emma's arm.
"no!" Emma replied before throwing Kerry off her arm and getting back to her feet. Moving herself round she narrowly avoided a back hand and dived towards the side of the mat before swinging her legs round underneath Kerry and knocking her on the ground. Emma used her legs to hold Kerry's legs down and then held Kerry's arms in an unnatural position. "Submit?"
"No."
Emma held them higher and dug her rough nails in. "Submit?"
"Yes." Kerry whispered.
"Sorry what was that?"
"YES!" she cried before Emma got up and held out her hand to let Kerry up.
"Nice moves."
"Thanks."
"Black belt?"
"2cd dan."
"huh…"
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Wincing in pain Zoe limped over to where Mac was leading her. It was an official looking building that they entered, possibly made in the 1930's it emitted an unfriendly atmosphere that simply screamed smelly old librarians.
"The second test is a simple verbal and mathematical quiz. You have forty-five minutes to complete it, you may begin."
Zoe stared ominously at the paper as if it was going to open its self and swallow her whole. She was the only one taking the paper and the silence of the world around her freaked her out slightly. There were 5 pages of questions for her to complete and they were double sided, she looked at the clock in the centre of the room and was surprised to see that ten minutes had already gone past. She stared at the front page.
Name:
"at least I know my name." She whispered to herself before starting the tiresome task of attempting to answer all of the questions. The questions got harder as they went along and by she only just managed to finish question 29 before time run out. She still had 31 more questions to go. Knowing she had failed it was with a heavy heart that she handed in her paper to Mac before following him out of the dark and dreary hall into the bright light of the sun.
"How do you think you did?"
"Badly I didn't finish."
"Well we will just have to wait and see how you did now wont we."
"I guess."
"Right well you'll have a break before the next test so you can head into the cafeteria and rest while we set up your next test." He led her to the cafeteria and left her at the doors to go to his office. She opened the double doors and found herself amongst a sea of teenagers each wearing different coloured shirts, none of which happened to be orange.
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Carina entered Mac's office and her eyes were immediately drawn to the caged chicken sitting on his desk.
"It's Bob!" She smiled as she sat down in front of Macs desk still gazing at the chicken.
"Sorry?" Mac asked her confusion evident on his face.
"Don't worry…Why's the chicken here?"
"It's your test. Do you like chicken?"
"Only when they are alive, like that one."
"Would you like to kill it?"
"No way!"
"Why?"
"Because it's alive." she replied incredulously.
"It wont be if you kill it."
"That's disgusting, I would never kill a chicken."
"Why?"
"Because I'm a vegetarian!"
"So you refuse to kill the chicken?"
"Yes!"
"fine, you don't have to kill the chicken."
"good. What will happen to it now?"
"It will be released back into its compound with the other chickens."
"What you mean in even more cages!!!"
"no, it's a barn that has plenty of space for chickens to roam around and it has direct access to the outside which gives the chickens lots of freedom and fresh air. We only have about 30 chickens in the barn and that is it. Happy?"
"Very."
"I'm glad. Would you like to do the next test now?"
"As long as it doesn't involve killing anything."
Mac smiled at her before leading the way out of his office and back into the grounds of the CHERUB facility.
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Aamena followed Mac towards a training compound where the first thing that she saw was a tall wooden wall alongside which stood two rather tall girls each with a heavy build around them. As they got closer Aamena saw that it wasn't a wall it was a block which was connected to a rope ladder which started at her feet.
"Aamena, meet your guides for your next test. This is Anna and Hilary, girls I will leave her in your capable hands if you need me I shall be sitting in the seats over by the end of the course." he turned and walked away leaving Aamena with a sense of dread as she turned to her guides.
"You climb the ladder and when you get to the top you have to slide across the pole until you reach the next wooden obstacle."
"The trick is to not look down, just keep your eyes straight ahead."
"We will be in front of you and behind you at all times, just keep moving and before you know it the test will be over."
"Ok." She watched as Anna started up the rope ladder, when she was half-way up Hilary nudged Aamena to make her start up the rope.
The rope swayed when she placed her foot on it and she nearly lost her balance when Hilary added her wait to the rope. By the time she reached the top of the rope she was breathless. Climbing was a lot harder than Anna and Hilary made it look. From her new vantage point she could see that the course was long and it disappeared beyond the trees four obstacles away. Anna crawled along the pole smoothly and when she reached the other side it was Aamenas turn. She was midway across the pole when she made the mistake of looking down, and froze.
A/N: ok next chapter will be the final task and the task results. Character profiles are now on my piczo site (see my homepage link) so review and let me know what you think (btw I would like to thank my reviewers your reviews are welcome and are very encouraging so thanks)