Panic ensued. People were screaming. Every spy turned to me and just stared.
"What? They're not dead. I just shot them in the knee and elbow. They shouldn't die just yet."
"Why at that point though?" Josh asked.
"They were about to name the culprit. I thought they'd appreciate the anonymity."
"How'd you know?" Dave asked.
"I was paying attention, unlike you it seems."
"Not that, how do you know where you shot them?"
"Because that's where I aimed."
"You didn't aim! You just raised the gun, and shot!"
"And I hit my target." At this point, the police arrived, with a number of SAS units. The SCORPIA assassin from the roof took a couple of people out, before they got shot themselves. The SCOPRPIA agents seemed shocked that the police got here as quickly as they did, but quickly recovered, and started shooting at them. Everyone in the hall was in some stage of shock, except for us.
"We should take out some of the SCORPIA assassins." I whispered.
"How? They have guns!" John said, almost hysterical. James placed a hand on his shoulder.
"This is tough, but CHERUBs are tougher." He sounded as if he were quoting something.
"Cherubs?" Dave and Josh asked. James looked up and swore.
"Uh..." I rolled my eyes, and turned to Josh and Dave.
"MI5 agents." I told them "Been going since WWII. Very successful. Don't tell anyone, as we'll just deny it." They just looked stunned.
"MI5 have a department for child spies?"
"Yep."
"And it's been going since WWII?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"And... you're all members."
"Give the man a cookie." I was getting impatient at this point "Are we going to get rid of these assassins or not?"
10 minutes later, the shooting had stopped, and we were giving formal introductions of everyone.
"Dave Goldner. CIA."
"Josh Butcher. ASIS."
"James Adams."
"Lauren Adams. I'm his sister."
"Corinne Politik."
"Kerry Chang."
"Greg Rathbone."
"John Morris."
"Alex Cub. We're all CHERUB, part of MI5."
"Ben Daniels, ex-SAS, now MI6."
"Zara Asker, CHERUB official." Everyone turned round.
"Alan Blunt, Head of MI6." Dave jumped.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Checking up on my agent. He's finished his mission now, has he not Zara?"
"Yes, I believe so. Come on you lot, we need to talk." I was torn for a second, then followed Zara. I wasn't breaking cover just yet.
"Why on EARTH did you tell two civilians about CHERUB?!"she yelled. "It's one of MI5's top kept secrets! When we get back to camp-"
"They're not civilians." I said, interrupting her mid-rant.
"What?"
"They're not civilians. One's ASIS, the other's CIA. And you yelling about CHERUB isn't the best way to keep it a secret."
"You want me to believe that? Other intelligence agencies have child spies?"
"It's true. You can ask Joe Byrne and Ethan Brooke over there." She turned around to see that, yes, both of them were standing there talking to their respective spies.
"How do you know their names?" she asked suspiciously.
"I listen." I also lie.
"But they're over there, and you're over here." Kerry said.
"You didn't notice I wasn't here? I had just arrived when I corrected Zara."
"How did you know I said they were civilians then?" Zara asked.
"There were deaf people in China who heard you." I said whilst rolling my eyes. Zara glanced round, to see if anyone else was in hearing distance.
"The only other people that would hear you are the ones over there" I reassured her, and pointed towards Blunt, Byrne and (the ASIS guy) "and they probably already know about you." Blunt walked back over to us at this point.
"I'd like to speak with Alex for a moment." As I walked away, I heard Rat whisper to James.
"Was he a cherub?"
"No idea. Why?"
"He's so blunt."
I followed Blunt into a group of trees. He turned to me.
"You don't need to go back to CHERUB." he stated.
"What if I disagree? You have nothing to blackmail me with anymore."
"I could tell them you're part of SCORPIA."
"And why would they believe you?"
"You're too good. You can shoot without looking. I can always explain the concept of instinctive shooting to them."
"So what if I encounter them on a mission?" I snapped "They blow my cover, but for the wrong reason? Do you really want that to happen?"
"I could tell them you're MI6."
"At least we'd be on the same side then. I'd still rather go to MI5. At least they let me learn there. It's a rather vital thing that I need to do to get my GCSE's. I also need to attend the exams. I can do that here. It's quite surprising what I've learnt. Did you know that MI5 have a Ben Daniels look-alike? He teaches terrorist groups. Gets a lot of information wrong, but that's beside the point. I. Don't. Want. To. Go. Back. To. MI6."
"Fine. I'll email McAfferty later."
"He won't get the email."
"I'll ring him."
"What's his number?"
"I'll ring you."
"I won't answer." Blunt sighed.
"I didn't want to have to do this." he said morosely, and signalled with his hand. I felt something pierce my chest. I looked down and saw a tranquilliser dart sticking out.
"Shit." I said, pulling it out of my chest. Then everything went black.