AUTHOR NOTE

Alright, so that last chapter was p-r-e-t-t-y boring. I'm gonna fix that with a more action-packed chapter, along with a few sweet little things. Please review!

Operation: Guns

Rated: T

Chapter 5: Rain

The spies were halfway to the Angola Prison. When they had boarded the plane, Lacey's pistol had magically materialized onto her seat. She had squealed in delight.

She was now loading each bullet into the magazine slowly, marveling for the millionth time in her life how each bullet clicked home.

The others on the other hand, cringed every time the bullets clicked together.

Lee let out a happy sigh as they came into the view of the prison. "Well, gang, we're here!" He said a bit forcefully as he landed the plane.

The spies let out a breath of relief and left the plane—all except for Lacey. Marc noticed and paused in the doorway. "Hey, uh… you okay?"

Lacey held up her finger as her lips moved silently. When she was done she smiled up at him with renewed life in her eyes, which made him blush.

"Uh—What were you doing?" He asked.

"Praying," she said with a shrug.

Marc realized it wasn't just God she was praying to—probably her dad.

"Okay… are you ready to go?"
She stood up with another smile. "Yup."

The two exited the plane together, joining the other spies at the entrance. Tony eyed Marc and let out a snicker but Marc gave him a warning glance.

"Alright guys, here's the plan," Lee murmured, "Jerry sent us a list of the missing villains, so we're going to split up to try and find them." He got out his red MPCom and pointed to two men with long black hair, black beards and brown eyes. "Dimitri and Jacques Augusto. They're brothers that kidnapped some kids in New York City. Tony, Marc, Megan, you take them." He looked back down at the list, and then he grimaced when he noticed all of the kids they had abducted. "On second thought, Marc, switch with me. You and Lace will have to take Moira Wang—", he pointed to an Asian lady with black dredlocks, "—She robbed the biggest bank in Washington D.C. single handed—" He made a face, "She's skilled in like… three forms of martial arts. Can you guys take her?"

Lacey nodded, "You bet!"

"Alright then, team. Split up. Marc, when you get Wang in jail, fix the security malfunction. We cool?"

All the others nodded, and the team broke into two.

Lee, Megan, and Tony crept around the west halls of the Angola prison, and Tony looked on his MPCom to see which of the hundreds of cells was the Augusto's. They stopped by an open cell—Cell #98. The spies scanned the fingerprints, footprints, and various liquids around the room. They sent the samples to WOOHP, and Jerry got back to them moments after they were received.

"Well spies, is looks like the brothers escaped about an hour ago, meaning that they can't be far, maybe a few miles. It seems that all of the fingerprints you collected were their own—meaning that no one assisted them in their escape. The footprints were very easy to see, meaning that you'll be able to track them using the shoeprints. Good luck, spies," Jerry signed off.

"Great, sounds easy enough," Tony said happily, "Lets go!"

Megan pulled up the footprint on the screen. Lee studied it. "It seems kinda big, maybe a men's size 11? The other shoeprint looks smaller—like a 9. Megan, look for the smaller size. Tony, the larger. I'll look for a possible route they could have taken."

His brother and sister nodded, and they all set out to their separate jobs. After a while, Megan gasped and exclaimed, "I've got a lead!"

Tony and Lee rushed over, and they all knelt to examine the footprint she was looking at. Lee took a few steps forward and scanned the floor with his MPCom. He found the same footprint along with one a little larger. "They went this way!"

The three raced along; scanning the floor every ten steps to make sure the footprints were still leading forwards. They had to backtrack a few times when the footprints turned without their knowledge. About ten minutes later, they were walking along a forest path.

Lee was studying his red MPCom as they walked, keeping track of the ground. Suddenly, he stopped.

Megan rushed to catch up with him, as she was a bit behind. "What? What is it?" She whispered.

He held his finger to his lips and looked up at the trees around him. Without warning, he leapt up into one of the branches and a strangled cry sounded from above along with the popping of gum. Seconds later, the auburn-haired boy jumped down onto the ground, gripping a sticky bubble with a man matching one of the men in the picture.

"One down, one to go!" He announced.

The man in the bubble was groaning something in Russian and he had his arms crossed.

"Alright, now where's your brother?" Tony demanded.

"Ah, Dimitri?" The man asked.

"No, Dora the Explorer!" Megan snarled.

The man in the bubble laughed. "Dimitri is not like me: Jacques. He does not hide in trees, but in different sorts."

Tony's head suddenly whipped around to the bushes. A faint smile played on his lips as his hand flashed into the bushes. He grabbed a ball of hair and yanked upward. Someone cried out in pain, and Tony grabbed the person's shoulders. He heaved him out of the bushes, revealing him to be Dimitri Augusto, the person they had been looking for. Megan blew a bubble, and trapped him in a pink capsule identical to his brothers'.

"Well, sibs, our work here is done!" Tony said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Marc and Lacey were walking down the halls of the Prison. When they came upon Wang's cell, they began their investigation.

They found that the cell was closed. Lacey first examined the bars of the door, and finding that there was nothing to report, she continued the search. Marc examined the hinges of the cell next while Lacey looked at the lock. Suddenly, she yanked on the bars so as to open the door. It didn't budge.

"Hmm… that's weird," she mumbled. She whipped out her green MPCom and pressed a few buttons. Jerry popped up on the screen.

"Yes, Lacey, what is it?"

"Did anyone at all say that they locked the doors after Wang and the Augusto's escaped?" She prompted.

"Um, no. They didn't touch the cells at all," Jerry replied.

"Oh. Okay, thanks." She put away her MPCom.

Marc looked thoughtful. "It's been shut the whole time then. We need to go inside to look for another escape route she could have taken."
Lacey nodded, "Good idea."

They craftily opened the cell by making a key out of rock and slid open the door. They began to look around for any clues that Wang could have left and a secret exit.

After pushing all of the bricks on the walls in to see if they were loose, the two resorted to looking at the floor. They scanned everything with their MPComs, and decided that nothing was out of ordinary.

"It's like someone let her out," Marc murmured.

"Maybe the Augustos?" Lacey thought out loud.

Marc bit his lip, "Probably."

Lacey moved to examine the wall, and suddenly she froze as she began to calculate everything they had seen. She stared at the examination her MPCom was giving her.

Or maybe, she never left. She thought.

"Marc," she whispered, "Close the cell door."

"What?"

"Just. Do. It." She suddenly sounded fierce.

He moved to do it, but something hit him in the back of the head and made him fall face down onto the floor. He gasped in pain and rolled over, his eyesight blurry. He felt the wetness of his own blood begin to trickle down his head.

"Marc!" Lacey screamed, but she couldn't get to him. He heard a swoop sound and a thud as someone dropped from the ceiling and landed next to him. He heard a woman laugh right next to his ear.

Lacey found her gun in one of her pockets and she whipped it up into her hands. She flicked off the safety as fast as she could and cocked it. The woman was leaning over Marc now with a knife in her hands. Lacey pulled the trigger and Wang screamed in pain. She gripped her side where blood was now bubbling out and dropped the knife.

Wang let out another scream of fury and launched herself at the teenage girl. She dug her shoe into a place just below Lacey's shoulder, making the girl's arm go numb. She was able to pull the magazine out of the pistol before her hand released it and it dropped to the floor.

Moira Wang pushed Lacey back and her head hit the wall, but it didn't hit with enough force to hurt her. The girl gripped her shoulder where Wang's shoe had made a gash in the skin. Wang aimed another punch at her head, but Lacey ducked and the fist made contact with the wall instead.

Wang grunted in pain and made another attempt to punch Lacey, who had slid down the wall to dodge her attack. Lacey leaned against the wall and kicked out her legs—just like she did with the robots—and Wang flew back, landing on the wall across the way. Lacey stumbled up, trying not to glance down at her blood or Marc's blood.

She knelt by the boy and tilted his face towards her. His eyes were fluttering.

"Stay awake, don't black out on me!" She begged. Marc grunted weakly.

Lacey stomped over to where Wang was rubbing the back of her head. She made a snarling sound in the back of her throat and grabbed Wang's head. She smashed it against the wall and Wang screamed in pain. Lacey was going to do it again when one of Wang's feet lashed out and kicked Lacey's legs out from under her. She fell to the floor.

Lacey pushed her brown hair out of her face and stood up, just in time to see Wang sprint out of the cell, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

She limped over to Marc and knelt by his head again. She took a deep breath and began to smooth his light brown hair over his face, looking for the source of his blood.

"What're you doing?" He mumbled, "Go after Wang."

Lacey found the gash, wincing because it was three inches long and a couple of inches wide behind his left ear. "No, you're on the verge of passing out and I'm pretty sure you've got a concussion. Your safety comes first."

She dug around in the pockets of her spy suit, searching for the little first-aid kit she kept with her. It took her longer than usual because she had lost feeling in one of her arms. Her blood was dripping down her arm heavily now, but she had to focus on his injuries first. He was in the most danger right now.

She found a couple of pieces of large gauze. She took the fatter one and placed it on his gash. She grimaced when the blood quickly soaked into it. She took the second one—a longer piece—and tied it around his head, to help his possible concussion and to hold the other piece of gauze to his head.

She then pressed her finger to her earpiece until she found whom she wanted to talk to.

"Lee, are you there?" She asked hopefully.

His voice came seconds later, "Yeah, Lace, what's up?"

"Have you caught the other villains?"

"Uh huh. We've got 'em both secured. Why, do you need backup?" He said smugly.

"No, Marc's hurt. I've got an injury too, but his is worse," She glanced down at her arm, seeing that the blood was pooling up.

Lee's voice changed from smug to concern, "What? We're on our way." He hung up.

WOOHP was called and the Augusto's were contained and taken back to the WOOHP prison where they would be better contained. The other spies began to make their way to Lacey and Marc.

After Lacey had finished the call, she had crawled over to Marc to make sure he was still awake and breathing. She sat down cross-legged and gently lifted his head into her lap. They needed to elevate it so his blood wouldn't be going towards his brain.

Marc's eyes were closed.

Lacey gently slapped his cheeks, trying to wake him up. "Marc?" She whispered, slapping a bit harder, "Marc? Come on, wake up. Don't die on me comrade, come on!"

Marc's eyelids fluttered and he looked up at her with clouded hazel eyes. "Mm… huh?" He muttered.

"Thank god!" She gasped, hugging his head gently.

Marc scrunched up his eyebrows and he lifted his arm weakly to his head. He touched the gauze and winced. "Ow… my head hurts."

"I know, it's okay, we're gonna get you to the WOOHP hospital."

Marc looked up at her shoulder, suddenly realizing that she was bleeding too. He touched the gash below her shoulder and pulled his hand away, looking at her blood. "You're hurt, too."

"Yeah," She murmured, "Let's hope I'm worse than you."

They heard pounding as three sets of feet ran down the hall. Lee stopped and looked inside of the cell, his face growing pale when he saw his younger brother. He stepped inside and Megan and Tony followed him.

Lee bent down and picked up Marc, looking at his head with horror in his eyes. "Come on, let's get him to Jerry." He told the others, and he began to run towards the direction of the exit and the direction of the jet.

Marc woke up in a white room with a new piece of gauze around his head and he felt drowsy, but not like he had before. His three siblings were sitting in chairs by the wall next to the blue door reading magazines and books.

Lee looked up when he heard activity and breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, you're okay!" He gasped, getting up and walking over to his brother. Megan and Tony followed suit.

Marc sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He squinted up at them. "What happened?" His voice sounded rough.

"We got you to WOOHP, that's what happened. The doctors said that you had a concussion, they gave you some medicine and you kinda blacked out but you were still awake. Lacey had some nerve damage in her arm and they had to bandage up those gashes and—" He reported, but Marc interrupted.

"Lacey, where is she?" He choked out.

Lee nodded out the window next to his bed that looked out to a porch. Marc realized that it was raining because of the pounding on the roof. "She's outside on the porch, watching the rain. She said she didn't want anyone to bother her," Lee said. His face looked a bit downcast as he said this, and Marc thought that he must've "made a move" on her and she had rejected him again.

The boy swung his legs over the hospital bed, happy to find that he was in his normal clothes rather than his blue spy outfit or a hospital robe. He stumbled when he took his first step and the others moved to help him but he waved them off and began to walk normally towards the door.

"Where're you going?" Megan asked.

"To see Lace," he replied.

"But she said she didn't want anybody to bother her," Tony reminded him in a sing-song voice.

Marc shrugged, "She's gonna have to live with it." He growled and he stalked out of the door.

He found Lacey sitting on the porch, just as Lee had said. She was sitting on a chair backwards. It was one of the school-chairs that they used in Elementary School. She had her legs under the head-part of the chair and her arms were draped over the back of it, her head resting on top of them. She was sitting just at the edge of the porch, watching the rain cascade down over the top of it. She sighed when Marc opened the door, walked in and closed it behind him.

She made no attempt to get up so as to yell at him properly. "I told you, Lee! I just want to be ALONE!"

Marc walked toward her and pulled a chair up from the little lunch table near some windows. He dragged it over to her and sat down, crossing his arms as he stared at the rain.

Lacey whipped her head around and fixed him with a glare, "Lee Clark, I'm going to—" but then she stopped. "Marc? What're you doing out here?"

"I woke up. They told me you were out here," He said with a shrug.

"I said that I didn't want to be bothered," She muttered.

"I wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"Well… I went down back there, and you had to take care of me and the baddie. I wanted to say thanks," Marc told her.

"Oh, well… you're welcome, I guess. I'm just doing what common sense told me to do."

"Common sense isn't really common, you know. It's different for everyone," He corrected, his face going dreamy as he thought of science.

Lacey smiled at his expression. "You really like thinking, huh?"

"Yeah. I love it," He said, returning the smile.

Her expression fell. "I stopped loving things a long time ago," she sighed, "Three years ago to be exact. But Jerry probably told you what happened, huh?"

Marc nodded, a smirk on his face, "I kinda figured it out, too."

Silence grew between them, and Marc glanced over at the girl beside him. She was staring out at the rain, tears streaming from her pretty hazel eyes. She caught him looking and turned away. "I love rain," She murmured, "My daddy used to say that it meant God was crying."

"What do you think he's crying about?" Marc prompted, ignoring his urge to correct her and say, "Actually, rain is part of the water cycle. Water circulates through the air as a vapor and the clouds soak it up and pour it down. It's also called precipitation. You're supposed to learn that in like the 1st grade!"

"Someone probably died. Or maybe it's tears of joy, or something," Lacey said with a shrug, resting her right cheek on her hands so she could look at him better.

"Yeah…." Marc sighed, his eyes traveling down her injured arm to see that her hand was hanging down by her side. Their hands were twelve inches apart.

Mark looked up at Lacey's face again to see that her tears had increased. He bit his lip and decided to take a chance. He reached out and took her hand in his, not looking down at it.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

She looked surprised and glanced down at their hands, but she didn't pull away. She looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I am."

They sat there for a second, hand in hand, looking at the rain. They were startled when someone knocked on the wall and they turned to see Lee leaning against the doorframe. His face was bright red; kind of mad to see that Marc's charm might've worked when his hadn't.

"Uh… mom just called. We're later for dinner," He said.

The two got up and raced for the door. Nothing was scarier than mom's wrath.