Ollie, DOOM, and TUFF Puppy belong to Butch Hartman. But all the other characters here are mine.
Terrence laughed as he and Ivonne walked out of the park.
"I can't believe that geek thinks he has a chance with you! What a dork! You were smart to turn him down."
Ivonne tried her best to laugh along, though she didn't find any of this a bit funny. Actually, she didn't tell Terrence what exactly went on. He just thought that Ollie was just trying to ask her out on a date.
"Heh, yeah," she said half heartedly, "The nerve of him."
"I mean, seriously, Ivonne," Terrence continued, "The guy's a D.O.O.M. agent. He should know a first rate lady criminal agent like you is way out of his league. Actually, any woman would be out of his league. I mean, I look at that guy and see the words, 'bachelor for life'."
Ivonne shrugged, a bit annoyed by Terrence's harsh words toward Ollie. She had worked with Terrence many times before and actually had a professional respect towards him, seeing him as a great partner to work with: smart, a good fighter, and level headed. Once she started working with Ollie though, her opinion of him began to change. She began to see what kind of agent Terrence really was…a smooth talking jerk. Terrence had had a crush on her for some time, but she was able to just shrug him off and keep him at bay. Lately, however, he had been making a lot of advances towards her, most likely because of Ollie. He had some suspicions at times about Ivonne and the British opossum, but so far she was always able to convince him otherwise. Still, he never wasted a moment to put the D.O.O.M. agent down, or remind Ivonne how "lame" he was.
"He's not so bad, actually," Ivonne replied, trying not to sound too defensive, "He was just giving me the rose to show that he enjoyed working with me, that's all. I just didn't want to give him any ideas."
Yeah, right, she heard her mind say.
"He's just...being nice," she concluded.
Terrence shook his head.
"Come on, Ivonne," he said skeptically, "A rose on Valentine's Day, is more than just being nice. He was just trying to be all smooth. Heh! Good luck with that. Those guys at D.O.O.M. are just dumb wannabes. I still can't believe we have to work with em.' I especially feel sorry for you having to work with that English guy."
"His name's Ollie," she said, a bit strongly, "And it's not so terrible working with him. He's not as dumb as you think. He's sensible, clever, and believe it or not, he can handle himself pretty well in a fight. Actually, if Snaptrap listened to him once in a while, D.O.O.M. might actually accomplish something."
She turned to look at Terrence only to notice that he was looking at her with an air of suspicion.
"You almost sound like you're defending him," he said accusingly.
Ivonne could feel an alarm going off in her head as Terrence scratched the back of his head in deep thought.
"Now that I think about it," he said, "When I saw you guys, you looked like you were about to kiss. In fact you look like you wanted to kiss him."
Ivonne knew she had to act fast. Thinking quickly, she put on an air of indifference and eyed Terrence coolly.
"Of course I did, genius," she said with a smirk, "I had to be convincing. I was playing him, till he got a little too close for comfort, then I knocked him flat on his tail. You heard me shouting at him. Later, I'm gonna act all sweet to him and apologize. I gotta keep him guessing, playing hard to get. That way he's too busy focused on me to notice anything suspicious. Once the plan's set into motion, I drop him like an old shoe."
Terrence raised one eyebrow skeptically. Ivonne held her breath…then quietly breathed a sigh of relief as he burst out laughing.
"You're a cruel one, Ivonne!" He exclaimed slapping his knee, "That poor sap's gonna be crushed when he finds out the truth."
He then looked around to make sure that no one was within hearing range, and then whispered darkly:
"Course, by then it'll be too late."
He chuckled smugly. Ivonne grinned and laughed along, but it was halfhearted. The truth was she was worried and ashamed.
Because Terrence was right.
************************************************** ******************************************
Ivonne made her way through the labyrinth of steel corridors that made up her boss' organization. She had on her spy suit and was on her to way to meet her boss…something she never looked forward to. Two steel panel doors opened as she entered another hallway, when a female monitor lizard,with a long black ponytail walked up beside her.
"Got some business today, huh?" she said almost jokingly.
"Hey, Ava (pronounced Aye-va)," Ivonne replied, giving her a side glance, "Yeah, sounds pretty serious too."
"Are they ever anything else?" Ava said with a humorless chuckle.
Ava was Ivonne's best friend. The two had joined the organization at the same time, undergoing the same training classes as well as going on some assignments together. They soon became the best of friends. They were an unusual team, Ivonne being serious, calm, and reserved while Ava was light hearted and always ready to have fun. Despite how she acted, Ava was a genius when it came to technology, which was why she was one of the organization's top sources of intel, given her knack with hacking into computers. Though their personalities were copmpletely opposite, the two were very much like sisters.
The two friends continued walking down the hall. Ivonne gave another side glance and noticed that Ava was looking at her with a knowing sneaky grin on her face. She always had that grin when she knew something that someone didn't, or when she found out some good gossip. Ivonne rolled her eyes.
"Okay, what do you know?" She sighed.
"Oh, I think you know," Ava said teasingly.
"Nooo, I don't," Ivonne replied drolly.
"Yes, you doooo," said Ava in a sing song voice.
"Avaaa," Ivone said scoldingly.
"Okay, okay, Miss Serious," Ava replied throwing up her arms in mock frustration. She leaned in and sang quietly:
"I heard someone wanted you to be his Valentine todaaaaay."
Ivonne grabbed Ava by the collar while also covering her mouth and pulled her into a nearby storage facility. Once she was sure they were the only ones there, she uncovered her friend's mouth.
"Geez, girl, it's nothing to be ashamed of," said Ava smoothing out her suit collar, "Lot's of girls get flowers from their sweethearts on V-Day."
"Ollie is not my sweetheart!" Ivonne hissed, "And I'll thank you to not be saying that out loud! And for the record, I gave him back the rose."
Ava grinned and gave a happy little squeal.
"Ooooo! So he did give you a rose! For a minute there, I thought Terrence made the whole thing up!"
"Wait, Terrence told you!?" Ivonne exclaimed, her eyes opening wide with horror.
Ava clasped her hands behind her back and smiled sheepishly.
"Weeeellll, he didn't tell me per se," she admitted, "Actually, I was on my laptop and I heard him laughing about it to his friends. I was using my headphones for my laptop instead of the speaker, so they thought I wasn't listening…at least that's the impression I wanted to give them. Hah! I had those things turned off the whole time! I just came to you to see if it was true. Don't worry, no one suspects anything. They just think Ollie's a total loser. "
Ivonne gave an exasperated sigh and clapped her hand to her forehead.
"Terrific," she muttered. That last remark only made her feel worse about the incident. Ava then gave her friend a serious look.
"So you gave it back. Why?"
Ivonne shook her head sadly.
"You know why."
"I know why," said Ava, "But do you know why?"
Ivonne just stared at her friend. Ava was the only other person in the organization, who knew about Ivonne's feelings for Ollie. And she knew that right now Ava wanted to hear the true reason for Ivonne not accepting the rose, mostly because Ivonne had been stubborn and a bit prideful in admitting that she deeply cared for Ollie, something that Ava constantly tried to get her to confess. Besides being a computer wiz, Ava was also a hopeless romantic.
"I just…didn't want it," Ivonne answered rather weakly, "He might think I like him or something."
"Well, you do."
"Not in that way."
Ava rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, right," she scoffed, "Come on, Ivonne, I've seen how you are when you talk to him. I see that look in your eyes, when you tell me about him. And don't think I haven't noticed you staring off into space with that smile on your face. You can't hide that stuff from me, girl, I'm an information gatherer, I notice things. You care about Ollie. And it's obvious he cares about you."
Ivonne shook her head stubbornly.
"It's safer for both of us this way, Ava, you know that. If anyone here ever found out…"
Her voice trailed off. Ava stared at her friend sadly.
"But Ivonne, even if no one finds out, you know Ollie still won't be safe," she pointed out.
"Don't you think I know that?" Ivonne snapped in despair.
Ava saw the hopelessness in Ivonne's eyes. She felt sorry for her friend and was helpless to know how to help her.
"I'm sorry, girl," she said sympathetically, "I know you're in a real pickle here. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic at times."
Ivonne gazed out across the storage facility they were in. It was dark and gloomy, like how she felt right now.
"How did I ever get into this mess?" She asked, more to herself than Ava, "And how am I gonna get out of it?"
Ava shrugged sadly.
"Hey, how were you supposed to know one of those D.O.O.M. guys would turn out to be a pretty darn adorable loser?
Ivonne couldn't help but smile at her friend's remark.
"Yeah…who'dve thought? I just hope the boss…"
Ivonne suddenly snapped back to reality, an expression of fear spreading over her face.
"Oh my gosh! The boss!" She cried flinging open the door, "I have to… OOF!"
Ivonne nearly fell to the floor as she ran into a large, sturdy, robust figure. It grabbed her hand, preventing her from falling. Ivonne rubbed her head and found herself staring into the face of a large lion, who wore a black path over his right eye. It was Silas Mane, a long time member of the organization. He was the one responsible for training new recruits and helped oversee matters for the boss. In fact, he was one of the boss' most trusted agents, like second in command. It was he who had trained Ivonne and Ava. He had taken greatly to the two girls, through the years, especially Ivonne, becoming something of a stern father figure to them. He gave Ivonne a disapproving look.
"Ivonne," he said in his familiar deep, gruff voice, "You were supposed to have appeared before the boss awhile ago. You know he disapproves of tardiness."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," she apologized, "I just got…distracted."
Silas looked into the storage facility, where the two girls had just come out of. He eyed them suspiciously.
"What were you two talking about in there, anyway?" He asked, "It sounded like a serious discussion."
"Oh, um…" stuttered Ava, twiddling her fingers, "We…I…was just asking Ivonne a computer question…yes, a computer question. I've been having a problem with my laptop and was hoping she could help me."
Silas raised one eyebrow and folded his huge arms.
"Really?" He said, unconvinced, "I thought you were an expert in that sort of thing Ava. Everyone usually comes to you for that sort of advice."
Ava bit her lip nervously.
"Well, um, even we computer geeks have off days," she said with an innocent grin.
Silas looked from Ava to Ivonne, then back to Ava. He sighed hopelessly.
"There's no time for this. Ava, go along with your business. Ivonne, come with me before the boss gets more irritated."
Both girls nodded as they did what they were told. Ava headed off down the hallway, while Silas and Ivonne went in the opposite direction towards the meeting room. Both were silent most of the way when Silas spoke.
"That D.O.O.M. agent you're working with, his name is Ollie, right?"
"Y-Yes," said Ivonne, "Why?"
Silas looked at her.
"I thought I heard his name mentioned a few times, when I was at the storage door," he replied.
Ivonne's eyes briefly widened, almost betraying the sudden anxiety she felt inside. Silas continued to stare at her, like a father who knew his child was hiding something from him. For a minute Ivonne thought she had been caught, till he spoke again.
"Hmmm, probably just my imagination."
A great relief swept over Ivonne which soon vanished as they both came to a giant steel paneled door. It opened with a threatening swoosh, revealing a cavernous room. On one side, a digital map of Petropolis was displayed on a wall sized screen. Scattered throughtout the other sides were other numerous computers and unidentifiable machines. At the end of the room on a small pedestal was a large, throne like chair. Seated upon it, almost hidden in the shadows, was the large, menacing silhouetted figure of their boss. Ivonne stared nervously at the foreboding figure. The only thing that could really be seen of him was the large metallic claw that had replaced his right hand when he lost it in an untold "accident" years ago. Silas bowed respectfully to the figure.
"Sir, here she is. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Ivonne saw two glowing eyes materialize from the top of the figure and focus their gaze on her. They seem to pierce right through her soul. She shivered.
"Well done, Silas," the figure replied in a calm tone, not once taking their eyes off her. The giant metallic claw beckoned them in with a wave.
"Come in, come in, we have important matters to discuss."
Ivonne took a deep breath of courage and tried her best to put on a calm face as she and Silas entered in. She heard the steel panel door close behind them forebodingly, sealing them in. The meeting was now in session.
Ava seems like a real character doesn't she? At least Ivonne has someone to confide in. But what matters could her boss want to discuss? Next chapter you'll hear about the plan, and see why Ivonne fears her boss so much. Stay tuned!