Working Undercover
The work is never really complete, for there will always be at least one conflict each day, most of the time more. And it was their job to help. No one ever said accepting the work was easy.
June 29, 2012
"What do you mean he left the IAS?" Mia asked incredulously.
Ronald Anderson, the co-director of the IAS, shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry Amelia, but that was his decision, I cannot enclose his reasons for leaving, even if I wanted to."
"But sir, if this is an undercover mission you can tell me. I saw him for goodness sake! He turned me away and threatened me. Do you know how that feels?"
"I'm very sorry Mia," he replied, and Mia noticed his softer tone of voice. "I cannot tell you everything."
Because she wasn't family, Mia thought as she walked away. Only close family members of the super in question are authorized to know if their family member is working undercover. Never ex-girlfriends.
Mia felt however, that he is working undercover, even if no one could confirm it. Warren could never be that hostile, not even during the time when they broke up 4 months ago. She only saw him a couple of times during that period, since she was assigned a long mission in South East Asia and Warren in South America.
When she came back to Maxville recently, she bumped into him downtown. He looked at her once then turned away. He was tanned, with his hair cropped short and face unshaven. He looked very different, but Mia knew without a doubt that it was Warren.
Mia called him back and asked what was wrong with him, and he told her to leave or else he would hurt her. Taken aback, Mia watched him leave, and her eyes widened at the skull tattoo on the back of his neck.
She hoped that if he was working undercover, it would be over soon. And if he wasn't, then, she needed a plan of action.
She soon found herself at Will and Layla's house in Suburbian Maxville. Layla was ecstatic to see her, especially since she hadn't seen Mia for four months. Will was there as well, but behind his happy face was a little bit of apprehension. He knew why Mia was there.
Mia at first fussed over Layla's very swollen belly. She was just over four months into her pregnancy, and Mia could see just how happy the couple was.
"Last time I saw you that baby was just conceived," Mia said jokingly, and Layla laughed in reply.
"Oh Mia I missed you! I hope you won't leave us again for such a long time," Layla said as the two sat down.
"I probably won't for a while, I was just assigned to cover cross-country, so I'll be renting a place here," Mia replied, looking at Will who sat down across them.
"That's good," he said. "I hope you're here when the baby is born."
They talked about the baby for a few more minutes, and their excitement was clearly shown. Will and Layla are the first out of the large group of friends around their age they have acquired in the IAS to have a baby. He or she would be the first of the next generation super children. Soon the three were talking about which couple was next to have a child. Since Ethan was just married to his longtime girlfriend Gabriela, all fingers pointed to them.
When Layla excused herself to go to the bathroom, Mia turned to Will and changed their conversation topic.
"Have you heard from Warren?" she asked, and Will finally revealed his apprehensive face.
"Not anymore than you have Mia," he replied sadly. "Last month I was at the office and was told by the staff that Flare had quit. I thought they meant he was off to start the Elements team with Vee, Tom, and Mandy, but it turned out that he actually quit. I haven't heard from him since."
"I saw him yesterday," Mia said sadly, and Layla heard her as she came back in the room.
"He's here in Maxville?" Layla asked quietly and Mia nodded.
"Maybe he just dropped by here to do something for whoever he's working for, because from what I heard with the other supers he's been spotted quite a lot in Florida," Mia went on and the two friends looked at her forlornly. They had lost their best friend for over a month, and both missed him terribly.
"It's an undercover mission," Mia continued. She wasn't asking a question, and Will and Layla understood straightaway.
"That's what we've speculated on, even though no one can affirm it," Will replied.
The two had no way of knowing either, even though they were two of Warren's best friends.
Mia nodded, "I hope he'll finish with this mission soon," she said quietly and the two couldn't agree more.
Layla reached out to hug Mia, knowing how she felt at that moment. The two might have broken up months ago, but all of their friends knew that they still loved each other.
The job was almost finished. After one month of surveillance in Florida's black market for supervillain weapons, Warren was finally assigned to be part of the distribution team. What that meant was that he would get to be in contact with all the customers and track them. The final stop was incidentally Maxville.
He never expected to see Mia there, out of all the people he knew in that city. Last he heard of her she was still somewhere in South East Asia. When he saw her walking past him in the downtown street and called after him, he knew he would have a hard time keeping up a façade. But it was his job to be the villain, it has been for the past month, and the moment with Mia was no different.
Warren threatened her if she didn't leave him, and his guilt rose up in him when he saw her reaction. It was true in a way; he would end up hurting her if he had spent a few more moments with her. The people he was working with were around that area, selling their weapons to the villains in underground Maxville. He couldn't risk them seeing Mia, so he let her go.
He only hoped that she knew he was on a mission. If not then he dreaded her moving on and finally letting him go. They had broken up for months, but he couldn't imagine her ending up with someone else.
"Hey Hothead, you got those lasers for the techies?" a person to his right said, indicating the laser weapons for a group of villains who had powers over technology.
Warren snarled at the nickname, reminding him of Boomer and his high school days. But the name certainly caught on in their circle, which helped his reputation greatly as he started out in the organization.
"They're in the truck, ready to ship," he simply replied and his companion nodded.
"Good work, we'll see you tomorrow at the pier."
He left, leaving Warren to pack up his things and heading over to his house for the first time in almost four months. He had been living in an apartment building in Miami since he started his mission a month ago. Before that he moved around in South America, staying the longest in Brazil where he tracked down one of his archenemy in a large kidnapping scheme.
Opening the door to his condo unit, he saw that it was exactly the same way he left it four months ago. He dropped his rucksack on the leather couch and walked towards the bathroom. He heard a slight crunch as he stepped on the rug in front of a bookcase and he looked down to see pieces of glass beneath his shoe. He picked up a picture frame beside the glass, and he saw a picture of Mia and himself, smiling up at the camera. Warren looked at the shelf across the room where the frame used to be, and remembered with a pang of guilt why the frame ended up smashed.
The two had just finished a mission where they were partnered up. They were successful, but Mia had undergone severe blood transfusion because she set herself up to be taken by the villain they had been tracking. He had vampire-like qualities, and he craved for superhero blood. They eventually caught him and sent him to prison, but it was at Mia's expense.
He remembered how angry he was at her for putting her life in danger like that.
xoxoxoxoxoox
"We finished the mission Warren, and I'm fine, stop being so melodramatic," Mia said as she picked up her bag from the couch.
"I only said that you shouldn't be too rash on your missions, and when you have a partner Mia, you should consider their opinions," Warren commented harshly, standing by the wall bookshelf, and looking at her intently.
Mia replied by raising an eyebrow, "Too rash? Just because I didn't follow your plan to drag out the mission for a few more weeks? And what was the problem? I told you what I had planned out."
"My plan wouldn't have sent you to the hospital needing 3 liters of blood!" Warren snapped, prompting Lia to glare at him even more.
"Don't talk to me in that tone Warren, we were partners, I had a right to act on my own accord. Remember you're not the boss of me!" Mia snapped back. The intensity between their gazes was enough to burn through the walls. Not one party wanted to back down.
Warren shouted at her with his fists clenched, "Well someone has to be!"
Mia's eyes clouded in anger as she picked up a picture frame from the side table beside her and threw it at him. Warren moved out of the way in time and the frame smashed against the bookcase, pieces falling on the rug at his feet.
"Maybe you should go ahead and find someone else to boss around, because it certainly won't be me," Mia said harshly, and without waiting for his reply, she picked up her bag and headed out the door.
The door slammed and Warren threw the crumpled up uniform he had in his hands at the wall. Stepping away from the broken frame, he sat on the couch and placed his head in his hands, frustrated.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxxox
Mia left the country the day after that event, headed for her mission in South East Asia. He left Maxville soon after, due to his mission in South America. He saw her a couple of times during their missions when they had to go to the IAS headquarters, and he was glad that their anger towards each other had dissipated. They were civil towards each other, but their relationship had ended.
Warren was reminded of the times they had broken up in the past, and hoped that he could talk to her soon to settle things. Seeing her the other day and acting hostile towards her did not help him in the slightest bit, so he hoped that he would get the chance to apologize as soon as he was finished with his work.
He lied down on his cold bed, but sleep did not find him immediately. He stared up at the dark ceiling, and thought about the mission he had to end soon. Very soon.