Merhaba!

Nice to see you all again. I've missed you. You look awesome; did you get a haircut in the last twenty four hours?

Ahem. Moving on.

Man, this is some strenuous and stressful writing. I'm always so worried I won't have any time to write this and yet somehow, miraculously, I do! Aren't you so happy and thrilled!? I know I am.

Onward!

…

Used

Legault hummed softly to himself, staring into space as he thought. It had been a few days since he and the rest had been dispatched to Emblem, but he had yet receive information on what exactly they were supposed to do there. And although he was grateful for this…he had to admit, it was a little boring. He shuddered to think what a normal high-schooler's life was like.

Yanking his gaze from the empty air, he let it now settle on his cell phone. He had about another day until he had to get worried that they'd called and he'd just missed it. Nobody who would have delivered the message that he would have thought of would have waited for the beep.

As if sensing his impatience, his phone started to vibrate on the table next to him. He picked it up, glancing at the caller ID before hitting the accept button.

"You've reached the Thief, Spy, and Hacker Hotline, better known as the TS double H. What is it that you desire of us?" He asked, smirking as he thought of what the reaction would be.

There was nothing for a second. Then Ursula was hissing into the phone, "That wouldn't have been funny if it had been anyone else! Do you want to get thrown in prison?"

"You're too paranoid; I have caller ID," he answered, to which she only huffed. "You got the orders?"

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, and there was a silence in which he could hear pieces of paper rustling around. "Here it is."

"Read it to me, and make it fast. I've got homework.'

"And you think I don't?" Ursula snarled, before going on in a bored tone. "It's just the standard get information kind of thing. He wants to know the most successful students in everything: academics, sports, music, drama, you name it. Then, you have to start in on sabotage."

"How does he propose we gather this information? He usually has something to suggest," Legault inquired, tapping his fingers on his knee.

"Nothing, but if you ask me, I'd just think you'd keep an eye on the gossip and join all the clubs you can," Ursula suggested. Legault exhaled slowly, trying to keep himself from yelling at her.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he said in a purposefully calm voice. "In fact, since you have so many great ideas, why didn't you agree to this mission? You know, instead of passing this off to Nino."

He could just see Ursula turning her head guiltily here. They'd all, excluding Nino and Jaffar, had this conversation with her many times over, and she always spouted something like she was too attached to the school to leave. Yeah, right. Most people would kill to just get a chance to leave there.

"I don't want to have this conversation now," she answered, adding. "I had no say in the matter you know. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I really did have no say in the matter."

"What do you mean?" Legault asked, really paying attention for the first time in this whole conversation. What she was saying didn't make any sense. Why would they prohibit here from agreeing to a mission.

"Ask Lloyd, he'll probably give you more details, although he doesn't have all of them. I can't stay any longer though, I'm wanted somewhere else soon," she rushed on. "I'll call you back with more details and for your report in a week.'

"Alri-" he started to say, but was cut off by Ursula's hurried and quiet, "I'm sorry Nino was dragged into this," and a dial tone.

He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, trying to put some things together. If Ursula had no say in the matter, was that just her being overdramatic or had someone really approached her ordering her to refuse the mission? And if so, what was the point? Finally, the most important question was, why Nino? There were hundreds of students who would have jumped at the chance to do this. Well, maybe not hundreds, but at least fifty. So, why had they chosen sweet, inexperienced Nino?

Legault rested his head in his hands, sighing. Sometimes he thought that being a pawn in this sick game of chess was more exhausting than being the king, or the real most important piece, the queen. Or maybe that's just because he kept striving to get to the other end in order to become something better and make sense of what was happening. Or was that checkers? He'd never particularly liked either game.

Putting the whole chess metaphor aside, he picked up the phone again, dialing a long ago memorized number.

On the third ring, Lloyd answered.

"Legault?" he asked, and Legault made a little hum to answer. "What do you want?"

Legault smirked. There was no beating around the bush with Lloyd. You just said what you needed and nothing else. It was refreshing, although, like his distaste for silence, not the best trait for a spy.

"I want to know what you know about why Ursula is not on this mission," he said bluntly. "She just called with our orders and told me to ask you about it, though she mentioned you didn't have all of the details."

"Ah," Lloyd grunted, and silence fell for a few seconds as he gathered his thoughts. "All she told me is Sonia approached her and told her not to accept the next mission she was assigned. She said that it was around time for her daughter to get her fist mission, but Nergal refused to assign her one while he still had so many willing agents. While Ursula was reluctant, you can't really tell that woman no. You end up with failing grades in all your classes."

"I see," Legault responded, gears turning in his head again, slicked with fury at Nino's mother for making her do this. He would have to apologize to Ursula the next time she called.

"I have to go, so if that's all you wanted, I'll be hanging up," Lloyd was saying.

"See y-" Legault began, but was cut off by a dial tone for the second time. He held his phone out and glared at it. "What's with people hanging up on me today?!"

He tossed his phone on the table beside him in disgust, reclining in his chair. This was not boding well so far. Something was brewing beneath the surface of this mission, and Legault didn't like it one bit. It was attaching strings to all their hands and legs and using them for its own purposes. He wasn't fond of being a puppet, although he was one on many occasions. But this time, the was a fight for who would control the strings.

Nergal may be the black king of this chess game, but like he mentioned before, the queen is the real ruler of the chessboard. And her face was masked behind a veil of uncertainty.

He had to figure out who he or she was. Because whatever they were using them for, didn't look good for Nino's future.

…

Mee hee hee. Did you like my very long and drawn out chess/checkers analogy? I even brought it back for a little encore at the end there. And the queen is so much more useful than the king. I mean, come on. The king can only move one space, whereas the queen can move any amount. Maybe it's just because I don't play chess. Huh.

Review please! I haven't gotten any past chapter six, and I'm on chapter 12!

Elveda!