Dan awoke lazily, sitting up as he stretched. "Ugh, I hate mornings," he grumbled, standing up slowly so he wouldn't tip over. He made his way to the bathroom to get ready. He threw on a pair of jeans and a button-up t-shirt. He slowly put on the contacts, still scared of poking out his own eyes, and after blinking a few times and moistening them with eyedrops, he walked over to put on his sneakers.
"I wonder if Amy's up yet," he thought out-loud. He turned to look at the clock that read 6:30 AM. Usually, he wasn't awake that early unless their was mandatory training. But he was still suffering from bad jetlag.
He left his room to knock on Amy's. After a few minutes, she opened the door, sleepy. Her hair was tangled and pulled into a messy ponytail, and she was still in her pajamas. She glared at him sleepily.
"What?" she muttered, leaning against the door for support.
"I was going to see if you wanted to eat something, but I guess it's too early," he said. "I'll go get myself a snack downstairs then. Do you want anything?" he offered.
"Just get me a bagel or something," she mumbled. "Just don't wake me up for another hour."
Dan nodded, understanding that this was a hidden death threat - waking up his sister was dangerous. She shut the door on him, and he made his way downstairs.
x
An hour and a half later, Dan returned to her room with a bag with a cream pastry in it and a delicious cheese bagel, and in his other hand was a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. He just finished his early, delicious breakfast.
He knocked on her door and she opened it immediately. She was already dressed, more awake than before, and the TV was heard from inside. Her laptop was on her bed as well, meaning she was researching.
"Looks good," she commented, taking the food and allowing him in.
"You're welcome," he said sarcastically, sitting on the armchair as he grabbed the remote.
"Thank you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don't turn the channel," she warned. "I was watching a story on the news. It said that recently there has been several underground explosions."
"So?" Dan asked, not seeing what this could possibly mean.
"I think the Vespers are collapsing the underground routes that could lead someone to their headquarters," she explained. "Two of the alledged explosions were some of the routes I'd found online."
"Google has ways to sneak into the Vespers' headquarters?" he asked, confused. "Why didn't I know about this before?"
Amy threw her pillow at him. "No, I was logged into the Cahill's database."
"That explains it," he said with an understanding nod.
Amy was nibbling at the bagel as she typed on her laptop. "We should go sight-seeing," she suddenly said.
"What?" he asked, surprised. Amy was usually very dedicated to a mission. Sight-seeing wouldn't be her top priority.
"There are severals attractions having said to be linked to Vespers. Also, we can ask more about the building they reside in."
Dan frowned. "But wouldn't they get suspicious?"
"We're going to have to switch up our looks each time, so they can't trace the questions back to us," she explained. "And our outfits."
He sighed. "That sounds like a lot of work."
Amy took a big gulp of orange juice. "That's what being a Cahill is all about."
x
They asked several shops and neighboring restaurants about the building, changing their looks up with wigs and colored contacts. Sometimes they were given a shrug and a simple "no". Other times, the workers would know little pieces, such as they often got rich guests over there and that sometimes they could hear bangs coming from the building. They even got glares, which they knew that it was their cue to leave for they might be sent after.
"I'm so glad Italians speak English," Dan muttered, pulling off the bright red wig and his scarf. "Or that would've been ten times more exhausting."
Amy nodded, pulling off her fake mole on her right cheek. "We barely even got that much information."
"I doubted we would've," Dan admitted. "The Vespers are more secretive than the Cahills."
Amy agreed wordlessly. "Let's just find somewhere to eat an early dinner so we can head back. I'm exhausted," she sighed dejectedly.
Dan's stomach agreed without protest.
They found a small restaurant that they had earlier questioned. They ordered their meals and were eating hungrily when Dan noticed a fancy V on a man's heel. His pant leg had risen up without him knowing it, revealing a tattoo of the letter V.
Dan's eyes motioned Amy towards the man, who was with another man dressed just like him. Amy's eyes widened. They were probably there wanting to know if they had been questioned about their headquarters.
"We should go," she said quietly so they wouldn't attract attention.
"We should follow them," Dan said, his eyes bright. "This might be our chance to get in. Maybe they'd take a back-passage way or something."
"No!" she whispered loudly, looking around for anything suspicious. "We could be caught easily! They have guards everywhere!"
"This might be our only chance," he protested. "We can't give it up."
"Dan -"
"I know you're worried we might be caught, but it's a chance we have to risk. We aren't agents because we're weak or scared. It's because we're willing to do things other Cahills are too scared to do," he whispered. "I'm going to do this, with or without you, Amy."
With a deep sigh, she nodded. "I guess I don't have a choice."
A/N: Not that much action this chapter, but there will be in the next chapter, I assure you. The plotline is fairly written up to around a mini climax. I have to keep finishing it up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, nonetheless. Please point out any mistakes you come across, and thanks for reading.