It was rather difficult for outsiders to understand exactly what K-Unit was talking about when they said that those two boys, the ones everyone talked about at Brecon Beacons, were not in fact people you would want to meet. Many of the trainees had found themselves on the receiving end of one of Wolf's infamous glares upon asking what Cub and his accomplice were like. Wolf would snap that it was none of their business and that they should thank whatever God they prayed to that they would probably never meet the two. Snake responded with a simple shrug and a, "They're okay. Typical teenagers." Fox tended to avoid answering at all (a habit from his time in MI6 where's Cub's name was practically Taboo because saying it in certain places was a security breach) and would glare at the questioning person until they went away and if they didn't he called Wolf over. So people learned fairly quickly that when you wanted to know the latest story you went to the jolly soldier. Eagle.
He was by far one of the nicest trainers around. Still tough and not afraid to hurt feelings but he seemed to actually genuinely empathize with the trainees. He also had the best stories. It usually took the freshest batch of trainees a good week to both find out about Cub and Accomplice and then believe that, yes, they were real. If they had wanted to, K-Unit could have tried to crush the rumors and the stories a long time ago but some things just didn't stay quiet.
Cub and Accomplice's true identities had never been made known but that was hardly important. To the trainees the two boys were something of a reality television show. It was a good story to hear during a rare down time and something to keep their minds off of the hell that is Brecon Beacons. However, they really never knew the boys to be more than a story. It was confusing to them as to why K-Unit seemed wary of seeing them again. Eagle would always answer that question with, "Those two are magnets for bullets and explosions, and while it is my job to handle such things, even I need a little rest."
This type of answer made people think that K-Unit was most certainly not telling everything. They didn't push the matter; it wasn't their place.
But K-Unit were legends in of themselves having taken on SCORPIA, Snakehead, and a few other high profiles, and winning the battles as well. That was rare, and it was plain as day that they were the best. So when J-Unit was asked last minute to provide backup for their ex-trainers in the field they were more than happy to help. It was just the icing on the cake that they were going to a bank to extract Cub and Accomplice from a hostage situation. This was what every trainee dreamed of. The chance to work with the best. However, what they got was most certainly not what they expected.
Panther led his team across the crowded parking lot and towards a regular looking police trailer. It was, in actuality, home base for the on-site SAS soldiers and the MI6 agent sent to consult. He opened the door and went inside, saluting Wolf, and getting his orders. They were to watch the monitors and inform him if anything looked wrong. It was Gecko's job to hack back into the security cameras inside and see if they could get an eye. Nobody else was having any luck.
They all worked in a flurry as they prepared for the first call inside. The police negotiator was there as Eagle's backup in case he failed, which no one was really expecting but you never knew.
It was a normal neighborhood bank in Chelsea and J-Unit was told that the two boys they were there to save had been inside cashing a check when the five robbers came in. There'd been an immediate scuffle and the robbers were unable to stop a teller from pressing the silent alarm. The nearest police officer had been a mere block away and suddenly they found themselves with a hostage situation.
Panther wasn't all that concerned about the two mini-legends inside. K-Unit certainly didn't seem nervous. Snake was even reading a science magazine and Wolf just looked downright annoyed. He kept grumbling about having to go through this all again. Fox was idly watching Gecko work, looking faintly bored. Eagle was the only one of K-Unit pulling any major amount of work but then he was the only one with a job to do at the moment. He kept tapping his finger in a seemingly nervous way on the small table he was working at until Fox snapped at him to stop.
"Eagle! Would you relax? She can hardly blame you for this," he said. Snake shot an amused look at them. Eagle narrowed his eyes.
"You don't know that," he replied. "She's a redheaded, American woman; she'll do what she wants and have the scary temper to back it all up." Wolf rolled his eyes.
"Are you ready to make this damn call?" he growled, arms crossed. "Let's work as fast as we can to get these people out before Accomplice does something stupid."
"What would he do?" Panther asked, curious. Who wouldn't be? They were talking about the kid who had manipulated K-Unit more times than Wolf was willing to admit. Eagle however, was more than happy to share the stories and with a good amount of gesturing.
"Open his mouth," Wolf growled. Panther just raised his eyebrow in question. However, it was Snake who responded.
"If he starts talking bullets will start flying," he said. "Accomplice has the innate ability of pushing all the wrong buttons."
"Better hope he's never in charge of missile control," Fox chimed in. "He'd launch them all at the same time and have them explode outside the atmosphere just so he could claim to have put on the best fireworks display in the history of mankind." Wolf gave his teammate a weird look at that but the other man just shrugged.
"He told us that's what he would do," Snake said. Panther shared a look with his teammates at that. Dear God, who would do that? Hell, who would come up with something like that? He could understand some terrorist wanting the launch codes so that he could destroy the world but to just want to claim that they had put on the best fireworks display ever? That was over his head. K-Unit almost made it sound as if the boy was serious.
Eagle turned back to his work as Wolf rolled his eyes again, crossed his arms, and stared the screen of Eagle's laptop. Five minutes later they were ready to place the first call. The conversation would take place on speaker phone so the people inside the trailer were ordered into silence. They had to call three times before someone finally picked up. The ensuing conversation was by far the strangest thing Panther had ever heard.
"Thank you for calling, we're a little busy right now but if would like to leave a message a bank robber will get back to you as soon as he pleases," said what sounded like a teenage boy. Wolf actually growled at the voice.
"Tom, what are you doing?" Eagle asked, sounding incredibly tired.
"Well, right now I'm hiding in a manager's office. They won't answer, they aren't interested in you," he replied, unnaturally chipper considering the situation.
"Where's Cub?" Wolf asked, cutting into the conversation now that he was pretty sure Tom was the only one listening to the conversation and even that was a stretch.
"You know, I'm not quite sure where I left him," Tom replied. "He's probably plotting something heroic right now. There are an awful lot of hostages. About thirty." Eagle started jotting down notes.
"Where are they keeping the hostages?" Wolf asked, quickly jumping on the opportunity to gain some information.
"In the room right in front of the vault," the boy replied. "Where else? That room has no windows, the vents are tiny, and if you storm the building while they're still working on getting the damn thing to open you've got thirty hostages between your bullet and their head. You better have a really good plan."
"Tom, can you see that room?" Wolf asked, taking the bad news in stride.
"Of course not, I'm cowering under a desk," he replied. "And don't even think of asking me to move. I will not get shot."
"Is the office you're hiding in anywhere near the vault room?" Wolf asked, completely ignoring most of the boy's last reply.
"No, I'm at the opposite end," he said. "Why?"
"Is there a window you can leave through?" Wolf asked.
"It doesn't open," he said. "You'd have to break it."
"Why can't you break it?" Wolf asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"And how to do suggest I do that Wolf-man?" the boy snapped with a surprising amount of force for one so young. "With the cheap, plastic office chair? Or how about my nonexistent muscles? Or how about I be like you and glare a hole through it?" Wolf glared at the white phone box and Panther was honestly surprised the thing didn't combust.
"Tom, don't get snappy," Eagle said, his tone suggesting he'd said this more than once. "Can you tell us exactly what office you're in? We'll try to come get you."
"Don't bother," the boy replied. "You won't get through that glass without making noise. It'll be like asking them to shoot someone. Just wait for Cub."
"Why, what is he doing?" Eagle asked, this time his tone unrecognizable to Panther. The boy heaved a sigh.
"I'm not sure," he said. "He shoved me in here, said to stay, and disappeared. He's probably with the other hostages. He'd want to try and stop them from hurting anyone."
"Alright buddy, hang tight. Do you have your mobile on you?" Eagle asked.
"Yeah, always. I'm a teenager with important calls to make." Snake smirked, Fox stifled a chuckle, and Wolf rolled his eyes.
"I'll call you on that if we need to talk again, but keep it on silent."
"No, really?" the boy replied sarcastically. "I was planning on turning the ringer up full blast. It's a good song, they might enjoy it."
"Just keep your head down and be quiet," Wolf snapped before ending the call.
"That was interesting," the police negotiator noted. "I've never heard a hostage act so strangely."
"What do you mean?" Lion asked. "He sounded pretty calm to me."
"Exactly," the man replied. "He shouldn't be that calm." Panther saw K-Unit give each other a long look before abruptly making themselves look busy. The policeman didn't even notice he was so caught up in his thoughts about why the boy seemed so calm.
Panther of course knew. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had answered the phone. Accomplice. He was interested in meeting the kid, wanted to pick his brain about codes. He thought the boy's code was the most interesting he'd ever seen. It was so off the wall it was uncrackable. There was also the fact that he existed. Almost everyone who heard of them wanted to meet Accomplice and Cub, if for no other reason than they were hoping to come back with a good story to rival K-Unit's. Snake sat himself next to Panther cutting into his thoughts.
"I can't believe we have to do this again," he mumbled more to himself than to Panther but Panther couldn't help but comment.
"Again?" he questioned. Snake nodded distractedly.
"Yeah, last time it was just Accomplice though," he responded staring at the monitor that showed the back of the building. Panther couldn't tell if he was worried, annoyed, or a strange mixture of the two. Snake was a fairly hard man to read.
"I got it!" Gecko exclaimed suddenly and Wolf was looking over his shoulder in an instant taking in the hostage filled room of the room directly in front of the vault. The soldier huffed after a few moments.
"He's not there," he said.
"Where would he be?" Eagle asked looking a little off.
"Start checking all the cameras," Wolf ordered. "See if you can find two boys, fifteen, probably doing something ridiculous." Gecko nodded and started tapping away on the keyboard, shifting the screen between different cameras all over the bank. He found the office Accomplice had shut himself in and they saw him just poking out from under the desk, texting on his mobile. They paused to try to see what he was doing when Eagle's pocket started buzzing.
The man pulled out the SAS issued mobile and looked at the screen.
"It's Tom," he said, a small amount of shock filtering unto his face.
"Is that a big deal?" Monkey asked. It was his first contribution to the conversation. The man just rarely had anything to say.
"He shouldn't have this number," Wolf answered. Eagle looked away slightly, just avoiding eye contact. Wolf saw it and growled, "Right?"
"I'll tell you later," Eagle replied, opening the text message and reading it aloud, "Marshmallow clouds and jellybeans abound." Wolf scowled. Panther was incredibly confused. They'd been given samples of the code but never the whole thing. What was that kid talking about?
"The hell?" Lion said, summing up everybody's thoughts.
"Just be thankful you don't have to deal with this all the time," Fox said, arms crossed. "What's he talking about?"
"I have no idea," Eagle said. "Hang on, I have Smithers's decoder." He went to his laptop and pulled up a program Panther was very familiar with. Fox had taught them how to use it during training. Eagle typed in the code, selected the type of code the decoder was translating, and hit enter. He only had to wait a few moments before it spit the English translation back out. "Marshmallow clouds means out of time, and jellybeans abound means lots of bullets. Something's going down."
"I don't see anything on camera," Gecko said, rapidly flipping to see if he missed something but all the robbers and hostages were still in that room.
"He's probably just telling us to hurry up," Fox said but shared a glance with Eagle.
"Give me your mobile," Wolf said suddenly and Eagle tossed it to him. Wolf started pressing buttons at a furious pace.
"What are you saying to him?" Snake asked.
"Hang tight, we're coming in," Wolf responded.
"Think he'll hang tight?" Fox asked.
"Not a chance," Wolf said, and then turned towards Gecko. "Find the other one." The man nodded and did as ordered.
"How do plan on getting those hostages out safely?" the police negotiator asked hotly. Panther had almost forgotten he was there.
"With a little help from an insane person," Wolf replied with a completely straight face. The rest of his Unit smirked. Eagle's mobile started buzzing again, this time with a call. Looking at the screen Wolf answered it on speaker. "Hang tight kid."
"You've got a plan?" the boy asked sounding positively delighted.
"I do," Wolf said. "But I need you to do something for me." Gecko snapped his fingers to get Wolf's attention without actually speaking. Wolf looked at him and saw the other boy up on the screen; Panther was positive that this was the famous Cub. Wolf leaned over to see what he was doing. He was picking the lock to the janitor's closet. Wolf smiled.
"What do you want me to do?" Accomplice asked sounding reluctant.
"I want you to play a little prank," Wolf responded.
"Oooooo, do tell," came the twisted sounding reply.
"Do you have your lighter on you?" Wolf asked. Accomplice paused before answering.
"What makes you think I have a lighter?" he asked.
"I've been through your pockets before kid," Wolf responded. "I've also read the psych evaluation MI6 has on you. I know how much you like to stare at the flame." A pyro? Panther thought incredulously. He could tell by Eagle's face, by far the most expressive, that the rest of K-Unit had had no idea about this.
"Yes, I have the lighter," the boy replied.
"Perfect, we've turned off the power, but the sprinkler system will still work. We'll set it off and that's your cue to vacate."
"Right now?" he asked. Wolf looked at the screen to see Cub pulling out bottles of chemicals.
"No, wait till Cub comes to get you," he said. "You're gonna set a fire."
"Won't that kill a lot of people?" the boy asked, a little blankly. He sounded interested but not concerned which in turn set off warning bells in Panther's head.
"No," Wolf replied. "Cub will explain it."
"Fine," he huffed. "By the way, if you ever go through my pockets again I'll set killer raccoons on you. They'll scratch your eyes out."
"Noted." Accomplice just hung up.
"Are we seriously going to pull a Pyro Dream?" Snake asked, sounding highly concerned. "Don't you think that's a bad idea?"
"What is a Pyro Dream?" the policeman practically screeched.
"It's a weird plan, but it'll work," Wolf said. "We don't have any other option. Those guys are holed up good and tight and they don't even plan on answering the damn phone and opening communications. This will send them head over heels to leave the building. Once it starts we'll go in through a window on the opposite side of the bank and cut off exits there. The hostages will flood out through the lobby as far away from the fire as possible. They should all leave through the front doors safely."
"Should?" the policeman asked bitingly and Panther was almost inclined to agree with him. This sounded completely crazy. What if they killed someone?
"It's no more dangerous than storming the building would be," Fox said. It only just occurred to Panther that K-Unit had known exactly what Cub was doing before Wolf had even asked Accomplice about his lighter.
The bank was built with two long hallways of offices set across from each other with a wide area that housed the lobby and tellers in the center with the vault and vault room just behind that center section. With an uncontrolled fire coming down that hall and an army of police outside the front door, they would have no choice but to try and leave through a window in an office in the other hall. They probably wouldn't make it far but it was supposedly a better shot than the front door.
The abandoned hostages would leave through the front doors. Panther had to give K-Unit kudos. It was pretty ingenious if not a little dangerous. But they were right; it was as dangerous as storming the building would be. Not only that but they seemed to have a way to control it, were confident even, that they could.
"How did you come up this?" he asked, and received an amused smirk from Eagle.
"We were going through how best to separate hostages from hostage takers a couple months ago in a touch up on training and Cub came up with it. We thought he was crazy until he explained how easy it would be to control the fire enough to give the hostages a pathway out of danger. He called it a Pyro Dream because of Accomplice."
"What do you mean?" Lion asked. "What does Accomplice have to do with the plan?"
"Apparently he inspired it," Eagle responded.
"Gecko," Wolf said sharply interrupting the policeman who had opened his mouth to say something. "Hack into the sprinkler control. Keep an eye on Cub and Accomplice and disable the sprinklers in whatever hall they're setting up in. Make sure the ones in the lobby area are functional but on manual override. You won't turn them on until I say so. The rest of J-Unit, Fox and Snake, you guys will be leading the police in through the opposite hall. Stay out of sight until the robbers are completely in that hall, and then engage. Stay on one side and try to take them out before they pin your location. Non lethal shots as much as possible. Keep them distracted while the hostages leave and be prepared for a gun fight. They won't roll over and give up. Be ready to go in fifteen minutes."
Tom had never been so excited to use his lighter. They had a well mixed and well placed batch of chemicals that would mostly certainly go BOOM! The trail of bleach started halfway down the hall and the three jugs of opened bleach, the two spray bottles of Windex, and one half empty bottle of soap sat at the end. Tom wasn't sure if soap was flammable but if it was all the better.
It would start a huge fire but they were relatively certain it would work. Alex had explained the plan, and then explained how K-Unit would even know as Alex most certainly hadn't called them, and then he explained how they wouldn't kill anybody. Firefighters were on standby to fight the flames from the outside in, once it got good and going. The sprinklers were set to go off in the lobby to allow the hostages time to leave. The robbers would be forced to try to escape through the other hallway. If the vault was opened they could have hidden in there but the manager had managed to get it closed on an emergency lockdown before they'd secured him. These robbers weren't the smartest guys in the world.
Alex dialed Eagle's work number (stolen from his file along with his address) from Tom's mobile, not even bothering to question how the other boy had gotten a hold of it. Some things were better left a mystery.
"We're ready," Alex said, not bothering to whisper. The robbers wouldn't hear from where they were. Everyone was holed up in that little room. Alex listened to what sounded like Wolf then nodded at Tom. "Do it." Tom gave a wide smile and brought a flame out of his bright pink lighter. He lit a small piece of paper and then dropped that onto the beginning of the bleach trail. The two boys took off to the lobby, ducking down behind the teller's counter.
Five seconds later they heard a huge boom as the containers of chemicals exploded. A few seconds after that and one of the robbers came tearing out of the room, gun raised. He took one look at the growing flames and turned back to his friends, warning them with a strangled shout. Less than a minute later the flames were almost to the lobby and the robbers turned tail and ran full pelt down the other hallway as predicted.
Alex darted to the now unguarded hostages and ordered them out of the room with a shout. They took one look at the flames and the unguarded front door and took off. Tom reached the doors first and instead of bothering with any locks he grabbed a chair and threw it through the glass door. He did the same with the second one.
Most of the hostages were just starting to cross the lobby when the first gunshots rang out and the sprinklers came on. Some people dropped to the floor on instinct, screaming. Alex started pulling people up with a shout to leave and leave now. Tom turned to help him. A second group of police officers rushed through the shattered doors to pull the now arriving hostages out of the bank.
It was complete chaos but with the robbers thoroughly distracted and cut off from the lobby everybody got out. The robbers were quickly detained and everyone evacuated, leaving the building to the fire department. Tom and Alex were the last out and were grabbed roughly from behind. Tom twisted his head around to see Eagle. He forced them through the crowd and straight into a police trailer.
Tom dropped into the nearest chair with a weary sigh.
"You okay?" Wolf asked. He was sitting near another soldier Tom had never seen before. He didn't answer so Alex did.
"We're fine," he said sinking into another chair. "Just a little tired. It's been a long night."
"Damn straight!" Tom snapped, thoroughly pissed. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "Do have any idea how late I am?"
"Late to what?" Wolf asked.
"I had a date," Tom snapped again. "I can't tell her I was held hostage, she'll never believe me!"
"I'm surprised she'd believe anything that came out of your mouth," Wolf said. Tom glared at him but Wolf payed him no mind, instead turning to the still unknown soldier. "Turn the rest of the sprinklers on. Let's help those fire boys out a bit." The guy turned back to his computer and started tapping away at his keyboard. Tom crossed his arms and pouted. He'd been looking forward to that date. She was really hot and he'd been hoping for a snog.
He was still pouting when the missing half of K-Unit and another guy he didn't know came into the trailer.
"Lion and Monkey are helping with the prisoners," Snake reported. "Situation is controlled." Wolf nodded then gestured at Tom.
"Let's get this kid home," he said. Fox looked at the still pouting Tom with a smile threatening to come out.
"You alright there Accomplice?" he asked.
"No, I'm not," he snapped.
"He missed his date," Alex explained with a smirk.
"Don't smirk," Tom shot back. "This all your fault."
"My fault?" Alex exclaimed. "How is this my fault?!"
"You attract violence," Tom replied. "I'm never going anywhere with you again."
"Fine," Alex said. "Good luck finding someone to take you to New York."
"You guys are going to New York?" Snake asked suddenly, jumping at the random tidbit of information. Alex nodded.
"Yeah, didn't Eagle tell you?" he asked. K-Unit all looked at Eagle expectantly.
"I'll tell you later," he said, running a hand through his short hair. Tom smirked; Jack had asked Eagle to go with them to America for her family reunion. They'd been going out for a month now and he was fairly nervous about meeting her family. Tom thought it was a bit soon as well, but Jack was masking the entire thing as a simple stop over to a much longer vacation. They were also going to see Alex's not-quite-but-might-as-well-be girlfriend, Sabina. Tom had been asked to go along and he was very excited to destroy Eagle.
Alex smirked at Tom again and Tom returned it. Really, that was too easy.
"By the way," Fox said turning back to Tom. "Why did you send us that message? You couldn't have possibly had any idea what was going on in the hostage room." Tom looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Do you have any idea how boring it is to be a hostage?" he asked sarcastically. He felt more than saw Alex tense.
"That doesn't mean you send false reports!" Wolf practically exploded. "You could get somebody hurt doing that!"
"But nobody got hurt," Tom pointed out. "And it got you to move faster. That was fun; we should do it again sometime." Wolf was visibly reigning in his anger at the boy. He saw the two soldiers he didn't know looking at him with completely closed faces. He wondered what they thought of him. If they'd gone through Brecon Beacons they'd have heard of him; Eagle had let slip that they were still using his code as a teaching tool.
He'd been a little put out at first. That code wasn't meant to be anything brilliant. In fact, he'd created it that way simply as a joke, nothing more. He'd been trying to get a depressed Alex back up on his feet, nothing more nothing less. It irked him that K-Unit wouldn't tell anyone the truth about it and he knew they knew as he'd told Eagle point blank months ago. He'd rather be known for being a good friend than for a spy talent he didn't think he really had anyway.
One of the men he didn't know stared at him for a moment. Tom stared back knowing without a doubt that he would win any stare down. After all, he won against Alex all the time. The man blinked and snapped his head back towards Wolf as he practically shouted, "Would you stop staring down my men? What is it with you and that freaky stare?" Tom smirked, still not bothering to look away from the man.
"Lets people know that there's more than meets the eye." The first stranger, the guy in charge of the sprinklers, looked at him strangely.
"You really are a weird kid," he said as if he'd been told but was only now seeing the proof.
"Of course," Tom agreed. "I have to be."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because," Alex answered before Tom could. "K-Unit deserves it." The two boys started laughing at the faces of the people in the trailer. And once they started they couldn't stop. They were just starting to calm down several minutes later when Wolf grumbled, "The things we deal with," in such a frustrated and irritated tone it set them off again. It wasn't that funny really, but for some reason they couldn't help but laugh. It was just one of those moments.
Eagle drove two slightly giggly boys home that night. Jack almost squeezed the life out of Alex, just like every time he came home from danger. K-Unit was decidedly not surprised about Tom's information theft and more than amused that Eagle was getting ready to meet Jack's parents, something he was fully nervous about.
And as for J-Unit, well, they were still trying to understand why Accomplice acted the way he did. But they did come to a sudden understanding with K-Unit. They now knew what their esteemed mentors had to go through on a regular basis. Panther gave them kudos for being sane.