Chapter 7

Zara, Jess, Junan and Stephan paced down the corridor. There was a deadly silence about them, but it was broken by Zara "You guys feeling nervous?"

"Well, yeah, half and half, I'm pretty sure I can handle the tasks." Junan replied, he was scared, but he was also excited about the prospect of being a secret agent, he'd always wanted to be one since he was 3 years old.

"What about you Steph?" Jess grinned.

"Yeah, I think I'll get through it fine." Stephan replied half heartedly.

"Dude, in the fight, you're so totally screwed." Junan laughed, "We always used to fight with each other, and I always owned his face."

A set of automated doors glided open upon the four people's arrival. They walked out towards a set of golf buggies. Jess and Junan climbed into the one behind Stephan and Zara and the set off, round a series of roads winding round the most beautiful buildings Junan and Stephan ever saw. They went round a corner and there was a huge building Junan couldn't take his eyes off. "Ah I see you like the mission preparation building then." Jess said as she noticed Junan staring at it. "Whenever we get missions, we have to go up there to get briefed, the staff everyone get's on with work in there, John Jones, you met him earlier, he works in there, Ewart Asker, Zara's husband, he works in there, Chloe Blake, these are just some of the mission controllers who work in there." A couple more minutes of looking at the buildings pass went by, and then they came round to a huge Japanese style building, and they were heading right for it. "Ah yeah, here we are, the dojo." Junan looked confused. "Right, yeah, this is where your first test will be held, the fight."

They clambered out of the buggies and headed towards the dojo's front doors. They then walked through the building; it had large brown walls, and mats that look like they have taken quite a beating over the course of a few years. They walked through another room, quite similar to the one they had just walked through, except in this one, there were kids being slammed into the floor, and people being beaten from the left, right and centre. "See all these locks that hurt a hell of a lot?" Zara asked, Junan and Stephan nodded, "Everyone here knows how to do them, and so will you if you pass the tests, just stay in the good books of Miss Takeda, the teacher, if you don't, she'll rip your heart out through your knees." They passed through a door, and there was a kid standing there.

"Robert?" Jess said, very shocked.

"I've told you once Jess, I'll tell you again, my name is ROB! Oh when you next see her, please tell Sienna she left her mobile in my room when we were arguing." Rob said.

"Jess, Stephan, outside please, just me, Junan and Robert in here." Zara asked nicely. Stephan and Jess followed their instruction obediently. As soon as she heard the door click shut Zara turned towards the two kids left in the room. "You two both know, this is an initiation fight, just some ground rules, no attacking the testicular area what so ever and no eye gouging but everything else is fine, okay?" Zara handed Junan and Rob both gum shields and they both place them in their mouths "Okay, first to win 5 times wins, and you can submit by saying the words 'submit' or tapping the mat. If a player submits, you must not have any physical contact with them until the next round starts. The first round will start when I say start. 3... 2... 1... Start!"

Rob dived straight into Junan, Junan hit the floor behind him, and Rob was on top of him. Junan saw this move in films hundreds of times, he could see no reason why it should fail, so he tried it. He swung his legs catching Rob in the bum, and sent him sprawling about a metre away from they landed. Junan had a moment of pride before seeing his foe crawl back off the floor. Junan ran up to him and aimed a punch at Rob's nose, but Rob was too quick and grabbed the fist, and twisted it behind Junan's back, Junan yelped, Rob then swiped Junan's feet from right underneath him and he plummeted to the floor. Junan landed in a funny position and was close to losing consciousness, then he saw Rob sit on him, and punch square in the nose, Junan felt the blood trickle down his cheek, Rob turned him onto his front and he noticed the once blue mat was now a very dark red. "I Submit" he mumbled. He couldn't believe he almost got killed in 10 seconds flat. Rob let go instantly and stood up. Junan struggled up, and staggered around to face Rob, he wiped the back of his hand against his nose and cheek, he just saw a massive amount of blood, but he wouldn't let it ruin his chance of a better life, and gave Zara a nod.

"3... 2... 1... Fight!" Rob charged at Junan again, smacking him right on the tip of his nose, Rob took his fist away and looked at it, it was covered in Junan's blood, and Junan could feel tonnes of it now, it wasn't a trickle on his face anymore, the blood was flooding down his face, he could feel it go into his mouth, down his neck, he looked at his shirt, it was soaking it thick and fast. Junan had had enough; he took Rob while he wasn't expecting it. He grabbed Rob's shoulders and brought a knee up into his stomach, Rob coughed upon impact and a mix of sick and blood dribbled out his mouth. Junan then punched him at the bottom of his cheek next to his chin, and Rob just collapsed into a heap on the floor. Junan had always lashed out when he was angry, but he never thought he'd beat up a highly trained intelligence agent. Junan sat on him and whispered in his ear, "If you don't withdraw, I'll break your neck next time." But Rob had been taught not to give in to threats and just tapped the mat. They both got up, and faced each other; Zara asked if any of them wanted to withdraw from the fight, but neither would let the other win, resulting in another round of this merciless death match.

After Zara had done the countdown for round 3 and the two boys weren't thinking about not letting the other hit them, they were now focused on making the other submit. Junan got flipped and smashed headfirst into the mat, but then he used his legs to squeeze Rob's legs together causing him to topple, then Junan got on him punching him in the face, he was so busy hitting Rob he didn't notice Rob's fist swinging up and hitting him hard in the temple. Junan fell of Rob, he felt something warm in the corner of his eye. He wiped it, to find he had blood coming out of there. Junan had had enough of Rob's merciless beating and punched him in the stomach, Rob retaliated with a swing of his legs knocking Junan clean off him and sent him sliding across the mat. Rob walked over to him and stood above him with a look that meant something like The cleaners will be picking bits of you off the floor if you don't withdraw now. Zara rushed over to the scene and Junan managed to mumble out "I withdraw."

Rob put his hand out to help Junan up, "No hard feelings, eh?" He handed Junan a tissue "Big bits up each nostril, it'll stop the bleeding."

Junan grabbed the hand and Rob pulled him up "Nah, none what so ever, I only smashed your face in so I could be a CHERUB, thanks" he laughed as he shoved tissue up his nostrils.

"Would you like a break before the next test, or do you want to go straight into it?" Zara asked with extreme kindness

"No thanks Zara, straight in please." Junan said determinedly.

Zara led Junan back outside to the buggies. "Junan, is that what happens in the fight?" Stephan asked now sounding less confident about it.

"That Rob dude is a hell of a lot stronger than he looks." Laughed Junan as he climbed into a buggy with Zara.

"You two in the one behind," Zara said. And she set off towards the main building. When they arrived Junan recognised the sculpture of a glass globe with a baby sat on it and CHERUB across the middle, it was identical to the one on his orange t-shirt. Zara took him into a little room, near the entrance. Stephan and Jess had been asked to wait outside yet again. "Right this is just a usual English and Maths test, so don't worry too much about it. Its forty minutes long from when you pick up that pencil. Start when you're ready."

Junan got a grip on his pencil, then he turned the page to the first page of the exam. It all looked pretty simple in his eyes, but like all tests, he now realised, it got harder as it went on. He was quite good at Maths and English though, so it wasn't the hardest thing in the world for him.

He had a quick skim though it before he told Zara that he'd finished just to make sure there was no silly mistakes. "Finished!" He announced proudly. Zara came and picked up the test, she gave it a quick flick through. "Seems as though you've done pretty well, we'll get our professional to mark it properly though." Zara led him out of the door; she wandered over to the receptionist.

The receptionist took the paper with a smile on her face "Thank-you," she said. "I'll walk it over to the examiner now." As she said this, the receptionist stood up and walked out the front door.

"Okay, now let's head for my office." Zara said already starting to walk towards her office door. Junan went inside and got offered a seat in front of Zara's desk, he noticed a bird cage on the table when he walked in containing a, what looked like, a fully grown chicken. Zara sat behind the cage. "Not my favourite test, I must admit but it still has to be done. What I want you to do is, take the chicken out of the cage, and kill it."

Junan looked really shocked, "You actually want me to kill the bird? How, do I wring his neck, or what?" Junan asked, he had a touch of nerves in his voice, he didn't think he could bring himself to kill anything. Zara handed him a pen. "So I stab it?"

"Just below the skull." Junan wanted to be a CHERUB more than anything, but killing something was asking too much of him. Zara had a very stern look on her face, it creeped Junan out a bit. He just placed then pen against the chickens neck and the chicken went nuts flapping out and pecking wildly at Junan's hands. He put pressure down on the birds neck, the bird went wild.

He pulled the pen away, "I can't do it." He placed the chicken back into the cage and twisted the locks. "I can't and I won't." Zara gave Junan and very disappointed look, Junan thought he'd blown it, so he re-opened the cage, grabbed the pen, and pulled the chicken out.

*

The drive to the swimming pool was nowhere near as long as the drive to the dojo, they arrived after about a minute of driving. "We have four swimming pools here, but we're using one that isn't being used at the moment." They walked through the front door and through another door and Junan laid his eyes on the biggest swimming pool he's ever seen. His mouth formed an O and Zara looked round and laughed. "We often get, 'this is the biggest pool ever.' But yeah, this is the second biggest one we have, anyway, over to the deep end, you might want to take note of the depths, they'll help in this challenge." Junan felt relieved, it'll clear off the chicken blood if he stays in the water.

They were stood at the end of the pool, "You see that bag over there?" Zara asked, Junan nodded. "Well, you have got to get that bag, on to the side here, you have 7 minutes from when any part of you touches the body. Any electrical items, please place on the bench behind us now, because, Junan, my love, are going into the water fully clothed. Start in your own time."

Junan walked over to the bench and placed his new phone on there. He turned around and sprinted, he bombed into the water, and headed straight down for the bag. He opened his eyes, he saw the bag about a metre in front of him. He kicked as hard as he could; Junan wrapped his arms around the bag and tried pulling it back to the surface but the bag wouldn't budge, Junan panicked. He would drown if he didn't get back up to the surface, but he'd done so well, so far. Just then he had a thought Zara never said the bag and contents had to come up together. He tried opening the top, but it was shut tight. So he decided to bite the side to make a hole big enough to rip open. He took out the contents, they were kilogram weights, he took two up to the surface. When he broke the surface he gasped for air and placed the weights on the side. Zara broke into a huge grin. "Well, you know what you could do, now get back down there, you have 5 minutes left." Junan turned and zoomed down as fast as his legs would let him. 3 minutes later, he'd brought up all the weights but one. Junan turned back and grabbed the last weight and the bag, but the bag wouldn't move, he inspected the bottom of the bag and he found it had little metal chains keep it down. He tried pulling them as hard as he could, but they stayed strong, he tried hitting the weight against them, but the water pressure caused it to have no effect. He looked at the bit of thread keeping the chains on, but Junan hooked it under his feet and used his arms to swim up. It was moving, just very slowly, Junan was running low on breath now, he wanted to sleep, but he knew if he would, he would never wake up. He gave it one last pull and it snapped, it bent down, grabbed the bag and pulled himself back to the surface. "20 seconds left, well done Junan, I thought you died for a moment there though." Junan just sat on the edge for a moment, catching his breath.

"How many times today am I going to nearly die, I nearly got killed by a muscley dude, then I nearly drowned. I swear to god, if I nearly fall off this height obstacle, I will just jump." Junan smiled.

Zara laughed, but went scarily stern, "You should never joke about dying Junan, it's not something to be laughed at, it's something we all face. Anyway up you jump; we're heading to the height course."

"Oh Jesus, heights are not my thing, haven't I done enough to get a place in CHERUB." Junan said slightly annoyed.

"I'm afraid not, C'mon with me, to the buggy." Zara said, Junan turned around walked to the bench and grabbed his phone and ran up to Zara.

"So what happens after I finished the tests?" Junan asked Zara.

"Well, if you fail, we shove you in the back of a van and take you back to your care home, and if you pass, we say you have two days to come to an decision, and we shove you in the back of a van and take you back to your care home anyway. Or you can come to a decision on the spot, but we advise that you go back for a couple of days." Zara smiled.

"Oh okay, well, time to get on with the last task then?" Junan asked as he jumped into the buggy
"Yeah, let's go." Zara said and she started to drive.

*

As soon as Junan laid eyes on the obstacle course his heart felt like it stopped. "And I'm going to have to climb over this and everything? I'm totally screwed."

"Junan, just do it, I've got some friends who will help you if you want?" Zara said, Junan nodded unsurely. "James, Bruce, your needed, get out here now!" One tall but slightly stocky blonde 16 to 17 year old walked out, and another was a smaller kid who looked more about 15 to 16.

"Up the ladder, now!" The older one said as he forced Junan up the ladder behind the other kid. He saw Junan turn his head to look at him "If you look down, you'll fall, keep going up, look up, not down." Junan followed the ladder, he knew he was high up, he just wanted to know how high, he was petrified, he thought he couldn't move on, but the blonde kid kept pushing him back up. With 3 people on it, the robe ladder shook like crazy, which increased Junan's fear so much that this was as scared as he's ever been. They all got to the top of the ladder, "Right, Junan, slide across a pole, the sweat on Junan's hands made them slippery, if he couldn't hold on, he would fall.

"Umm, James, Bruce, are there nets below us? 'Cos my hands are slipping." As he said this his hands let go, but his legs clung on, and he tightened the grip, he could feel the beads of sweat falling from his forehead.

"I got you, nearly there now, just hold on" James said as he pushed Junan's back up so he could grab the bar with his arms. He reached the other side, and dropped onto a little plank. By now, like it probably would, hanging 15 metres above ground with no netting kind of gets Junan kind of used to the height. So he just ran and jumped over the gap, he landed firmly on the plank over the edge.

"Holy crap, did I just do that?" he sounded shocked. Bruce turned around and nodded. Junan gripped the next ladder tight in his hands and started to climb. Thinking about it, Junan decided he couldn't bare going up higher, and needed encouragement.

Luckily James decided it would be the right time for it "Come on Junan, not far left, you can do it." Junan started to climb a bit quicker, he needed to catch up with Bruce. He jumped up onto a plank, and they walked along a couple more planks, Junan tried to look down, "Junan, don't be thick." James laughed, "20 metres above ground, looking down is not the cleverest thing to do, is it?"

"Guys, shut up a second," Bruce yelled back at them, they fell silent, standing still, they heard the planks creaking, "They're not supposed to do this, they're gonna..." The plank James was standing on snapped right beneath his feet, he started to fall, but Junan grabbed his hand, and nearly got pulled off by the weight.

"BRUCE, GET TO SAFER GROUND!" Junan yelled back at him.

Junan could see the ground now, he was scared out of his wits, he could see Zara, horrified. "Wait there, I'll get help!" Zara yelled at them.

"No need!" Junan yelled back, and he started pulling James back up onto the planks, as he got James back up onto the surface, he saw a massive gash on his leg, and Junan looked at his stomach, the sharp edge of the wood had left a clean slice in it. "Oh, Jesus, it's not too deep, I'll be fine," he said aloud to himself, "BRUCE! Get over here! Help me get James to the platform." Bruce rushed over and took James' legs. They managed to get to the thicker planks. "Dude, you okay?" Junan asked.

"Ow, yeah, I'll be good, you got a course to finish, go on, Bruce, you too, I'll phone the medical centre, I have the phone in my pocket still." James pulled out his phone and dialled. Junan and Bruce carried on.

"Junan, with what you just did there, you do know you're definitely in CHERUB now, right?" Bruce laughed, Junan broke into the biggest grin ever. Bruce sprinted ahead and jumped the one and a half metre gap like he was a bunny just doing a simple hop.

Junan looked over it, "I can't do this!" He yelled.

"Sure you can, just take a few steps back and sprint and jump, no problem!" Bruce yelled back, Junan followed these instructions. He placed a foot on the place the other side, but it slipped off.

"Oh shit!" He yelled as he grabbed it with his hands and pulled himself up. "God, I nearly shat myself." Junan laughed.

"Another repeat of James again," Bruce laughed, "Anyway, time to jump off."

Junan gasped "WHAT?! I am not jumping off here, no way, oh crap, I'm gonna hurl." Junan turned around and puked over the edge.

"It's fine, just kick off, and you hit the crash mat, won't hurt a bit." Bruce grinned and paused, he grinned again. "oh yeah, if you land wrong, or don't kick off, you'll break your leg."

Junan coughed up again, he had some blood in it left over from the fight. "Dude you got to be joking, those branches will kill me."

"No, they'll sting, but you'll be fine, just hit the crash mat." As he said this, Bruce turned and run and jumped. "Clear!" he yelled from the bottom. Junan took a deep breath, he started running, but he stopped at the edge.

"Oh crap, I can't do this." He exclaimed to himself, but he had a thought of CHERUB, he had to do this, he walked back about two metres, he sprinted, he kicked off. He felt about 50 branches whip him in the legs, arms, stomach, chest, back, and face. "Oh Shit!" He yelled as loud as his voice would let him. THUD!

He hit the mat, but just the edge, his arm made a disgusting crunching sound. "Oh My God!" He screamed, and Bruce sprinted over to him.

"Oh fuck! It's broken!" he saw a care taker and yelled at him for help. And take him to the nurses office.

*

He was sat in Zara's office, with his arm in plaster and a massive graze across his cheek, and a bandage around his stomach. "That last one wasn't your test was it. But I must say, you did risk your life to help James, that's put you through without everything else. But you also slashed your cheek on a branch, and landed on your arm and broke it, poor you. But I can formally invite you too CHERUB, would you like some time to think about it?"

"No thank-you, I would like to accept your invitation straight away!" Junan beamed happily.

"Sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, Welcome To Cherub Junan Jacobs, oh by the way, you need to change your last name, something that matches your ethic origin." Zara remembered.

"Oh, a boy in my class had a name that I really would have like, would Junan Collins be okay?"

"Welcome To Cherub Junan Collins."