AUTHOR NOTE

'Sup. I have a pretty good idea about what the orphanage is going to be like, but I don't really know how to incorporate it. I have a HUGE load of homework now since I'm in honors math, so I probably won't get to update so frequently anymore :(

I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR THE BROOKS FAMILY, MOIRA WANG, AND THE AUGUSTOS!

Operation: Guns

Rated: T

Chapter 9: The Orphanage

Jerry led Lacey down the hall and to the WOOHP elevator and they were greeted by two security agents who nodded respectfully to Jerry and smiled at the young spy. They boarded the metal high-tech elevator and Jerry punched in some sort of special code on the elevator buttons. The brunette watched the little screen at the top of the wall above the doors as the numbers changed to letters. It skimmed down the list of letters starting from A until it reached the letter O. The girl smirked to herself. O for orphanage—how ironic.

The elevator pinged and the doors slid opened. Lacey walked out into a nice little receptionist area. The floors were wood and the walls were painted a nice peach color. A pretty blond receptionist sat behind a desk. She was wearing a white shirt and slacks and she had an earpiece on, but it was a little big and clunky. She wasn't talking on it at the moment but she was typing away on her computer. She glanced up and smiled at the two as they walked in.

"Jerry!" She said in a happy tone.

"Hello, Dominique. This is the new spy that we're fostering," Jerry replied.

Dominique looked down at the hazel-eyed girl who was looking around at the wall art in the room. "Oh! Then you're Lacey?"

Lacey looked up, "Yeah."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you. I'm the orphanage caretaker. There are only two other agents here right now, so my job's pretty easy, but because there are so few of you orphaned spies, you get to have basically anything you want," Dominique told her.

Lacey bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Okay."

"She's not the happiest little thing, is she?" Dominique muttered to herself as she stood up and put her earpiece back on her desk. "C'mon, follow me. I'll show you your room."

"I'll leave you here, Lacey," Jerry said, "You'll be WOOHPed up to my office for the next mission, and WOOHPed to school tomorrow morning. Have a good evening!"

Lacey waved goodbye to Jerry and followed Dominique back to her room. The caretaker led her down the hall that was lit up by lights on each side of the wall. They passed a couple of browns door with nameplates on them.

"Are those the other spies' rooms?" Lacey asked as she caught up to the blonde lady.

"Yes, but you'll meet them later."
"Oh. Okay."

She was led to the end of the hall to another brown door with another nameplate on it. The initials L.B. were carved into it—Lacey's initials.

Dominique opened the door and revealed a nicely sized room. A queen-sized bed sat against the far wall with a brown bed-side table next to it. The room was illuminated by the small lamp on the table. The carpet was a beautiful royal blue color and the walls were also blue but there were little brown accents everywhere. In one of the corners up high was a huge flat-screen tv. Over in another corner of the room sat a bean-bag chair with a bookshelf filled with books next to it. A brown desk with a computer was pushed to one of the other walls. A little counter with a microwave on it, and oven beneath it and a fridge next to it sat beside the desk. A couple of doors were on the last wall, one on each side. Between them was a mahogany dresser with a mirror. Dominique pointed out each thing although Lacey could see it all very clearly. She led her to one of the doors which she found to be the bathroom. A Jacuzzi was by the far wall, and a fancy bath and shower was closer to the door. The countertops were granite and the draws were a mahogany color like her dresser. A full-sized mirror hung on the wall above the countertops. The tile was black and the walls were light blue.

"So… what do you think?" Dominique asked, trying to make conversation since Lacey was standing quiet and still.

"Wow."

"Is that a good wow, or a bad wow?"

"A good wow. A really good wow."

The caretaker smiled. "Good. There are snacks in the fridge, clothes in the closet and dresser, and lights out is at 10:00. Breakfast'll be on the counter in your room when you wake up. See you in the morning!" She said and exited the room.

The teenage girl was rather curious. It was 6:00 PM right now so she had four hours to explore. She first thought that she'd check out the fridge. She walked over and tentatively opened the little door. Candy, soda, fruit and vegetables, anything you can name was stocked in the little fridge. The girl could have leapt for joy. She then decided to check out her closet, but was kind of reluctant. She hoped that these people knew that she wasn't a girly-girl. She opened up the wooden door and flicked the light on. It illuminated the large closet to show clothes of every kind hanging from the racks. Jeans, T-shirts, and shorts were among them. She sighed in relief. She walked towards the back of the closet, still curious. She found a hanging clothes bag—the kind you get from the drycleaners—and opened it up. She gagged in disgust and jumped back. Hanging from the clothes hanger was…

A dress. A pink dress.

"Well, there's always a good, a bad and an ugly," She muttered to herself as she quickly zipped the dress back up, trying not to touch the horrible thing.

She looked at the shoes next. There were many types. It varied from converse to street shoes to high-heels (She nearly vomited at these too) and her favorite of all time—combat boots. They weren't her dads, but they were still combat boots.

She walked back into her room and collapsed on her comfortable bed. For the first time in nearly four years she was content. She jumped when there was a knock on the door. She stared quizzically over at the direction of the knock and when it didn't repeat, she lay back down on her bed. The knock was repeated but this time a little more loudly. The girl cursed under her breath and got off of her bed. She stomped over to the door and opened it slowly.

Peeking out, she saw two people. There was a boy that looked to be about 14 or 15 years old and a girl that appeared to be about 16 or 17 years old. The girl had dirty blonde hair and kind chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a blue denim skirt, brown boots and a black sweater. The boy had messy black hair that reached down to a little past his ears, a splash of freckles on his nose and blue eyes. He was wearing shorts, a black t-shirt, and vans.

"Hey!" The girl said, "You must be the new girl Dom told us about."

"Uh… yeah! I am," Lacey replied with a small smile.

The boy joined in at this time, "We're the other orphans. I'm Josh, this is Gia," He told her, reaching out to shake her hand. There was a little hint of a lie in his electric-blue eyes, and Lacey barely caught it. What would he lie about? He'd said one sentence to her. She couldn't shake the feeling though that he looked familiar. She shook his hand and then turned to Gia to do the same. The blonde did so with a dazzling smile.

"Welcome to the orphanage. With you here, I think it'll be more fun! I've been dying to have a girl around. I've been stuck with him since I got here a couple of years ago," Gia said with a roll of her eyes as she prodded Josh in the ribs. He was a little taller than her, but she was obviously strong because he winced as her elbow hit him.

"Oh. Uh, well good!" Lacey replied with a small smile.

"Come on," Josh sighed with a glare at his friend, "We'll show you around."

Lacey stepped back. "Oh, it's not necessary!"

"Yeah, it is," Gia laughed, reaching out to tug on her arm. "Come on, it's not like we're trying to get you to smoke or something. We're all WOOHP agents here."

Lacey considered this for a moment and then she gave in and stepped out into the hall. The two smiled and Josh reached over her to close her door. She couldn't help but notice that he smelled good. There was something familiar…

He caught her staring at him and gave her a smile with a raise of his eyebrow. Lacey cocked her head, trying to figure out what it was about him that she knew.

"You okay?" Josh asked. She bit her lip and nodded slowly, deciding to ignore the fact that he seemed like someone that she knew.

Gia led the way through the hall, stopping beside each of their bedrooms and letting her look inside. They all looked the same except they were different colors. Gia's was in reds, and Josh's was in greens.

The two older kids maneuvered her down the hall and hung a right, turning into a large white kitchen. Lacey sat down at the white table when it was made clear to her that they were going to stay here for a while.

Gia went to the fridge and took out three root beers while Josh went to a pantry at the back of the room. The blonde quickly walked over to the table and set down the cold sodas—one in front of Lacey and one in front of her. The other one she quickly shook up and set down at another chair across the table from them. Lacey cocked an eyebrow and looked at the older girl, but she was staring blankly ahead with a solemn expression on her face as if she were innocent.

Josh came back with some three different kinds of chips and set them down in the middle of the table. The boy plopped down in the empty chair with the soda. As soon as he opened it, it sprayed up into his face, wetting his messy black hair. The amber liquid dripped from his face as he glared over at Gia, his electric blue eyes dangerous. The blonde however, had already burst into laughter.

"I'm gonna kill you, you preppy little cheerleader!" Josh snarled, but he didn't get up. She realized he was being playful because a smug smile had spread across his handsome face. Gia was still laughing.

"I guess this is how you two are with each other?" Lacey sighed when Gia had stopped laughing.

"Unfortunately," Josh muttered as he passed by her on his way to clean up and get another soda.

"So, Lacey," Gia began, "How long have you been an agent?"

"A few days," Lacey confided.

"How long have you been an orphan?"

"Three years."

"Do you have a team already?" Josh asked from behind the counter, rinsing his hair sloppily.

"Uh huh. The Clarks," Lacey said.

"Oh, hey! I know them!" Gia gasped, "They're supposed to be like… the best team of spies since those girls in Beverly Hills!"

"Yeah. I guess they are," Lacey shrugged.

"Speaking of last names, what's yours?" Gia asked.

"Brooks. You?"

"Williams," She said. Lacey looked over to Josh who was now wiping down his shirt with a disgusted expression on his face. When he noticed she was looked to him for an answer he looked up.

"Oh! Bruckheimer." He chuckled with a smile. "Kind of sounds like a beer."

"You wish," Gia huffed.

Lacey couldn't help but laugh. She liked these two already.