Totally Spies Porn Story: Shooting Star – Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Jerry’s Office 8:00 am

Jerry stood up. “Let’s get this meeting started, shall we?”

The
girls agreed, and so did Jacob. MacDonald appeared on the monitor.
“Sorry I’m late. It’s hard getting a secure line set up when you’re
under house arrest.” He wasn’t wearing his uniform today.

“Quite alright, we’ve got plenty of time.”

“I certainly hope so, Jerry.”

“The
first order of business should be to assess our current situation, so
let’s start with that. Girls, what’s the situation from your point of
view?”

They conferred with each other for a minute, and then Sam spoke for them.

“Well,
Stephen still has the bomb, we don’t know where him or it are, Ramirez
is probably hiding, gone, or dead, and the Secretary of Defense has
taken over the operation and wants to arrest all of us, so there’s not
much we can do.”

“A good analysis, Sam, but you do have a couple of things wrong.”

“And what would that be?”

Jacob sat up. “First off, we’re not powerless. We still have all of WOOHP’s resources at our disposal.”

“So that means we can still fight!” exclaimed Clover.

“Yes, but this time without any official support, right MacDonald?”

“Correct. Anything you or WOOHP does from here on out is an independent action.”

“That means the DoD won’t be easy on us if they catch us, huh?” said Sam.

“I’m afraid so. I know these guys all too well. They don’t play around.”

“And neither do we.” said Alex.

Clover
was sitting next to Jacob. She thought he looked a bit pale. She leaned
over and whispered, “Hey, did you not sleep well?”

“I slept well enough. Why?”

“You look a little pale.”

“It’s nothing, I’m just tired.”

“If you say so.”

“Now
then,” Jerry continued, “since we are no longer partnered with the NSA,
WOOHP will be in full command of this mission from here on out.”

“Really?” asked the girls.

“Yes. We’re acting independently, remember?”

“Which means,” Jacob added, “You’ll be back to using WOOHP-issued equipment.”

“All right!” exclaimed Clover. “No offense, Jacob, but that stuff you gave us was so non-chique I wanted to just cry.”

“None taken. I’ll stick to my guns, you stick to yours.”

“Coming from you, that’s not very reassuring.”

“Heh, guess not.”

Jerry cleared his throat. “Are there any other questions?”

“Yeah,
I have one.” Said Sam. “From what I understand, nuclear materials take
a long time to process, since even brief exposure to plutonium can be
fatal. Given the transit time between Russia and Los Angeles, it would
have taken several hours for the warhead to arrive.”

“What are you getting at, Sam?” asked Alex.

“I’m
getting to it.” She turned back to Jerry. “I spent some time last night
reading the mission report. According to Jacob’s report, Stephen’s
package left the warehouse we searched just a few hours before we
arrived. Now, when did you find out the bomb was gone before you called
us?”

“About ten hours before.”

“See,
that’s what’s not adding up. It takes about a day’s worth of travel to
get a package from Russia to here. There’s no way the warhead could
have gone that fast if he was using conventional means of
transportation, which we know he was.”

Jacob sat
up and paid close attention to her. MacDonald looked uneasy. Jerry was
calm as ever. Clover and Alex did their best to keep up with her.

“Now,
another thing is, when Jacob found the machining equipment at the lab,
he said it looked like it hadn’t been used for some time. If I’m not
mistaken, you take your time when dealing with substances like
weapons-grade Uranium and Plutonium.”

“What are you saying, Sam?” asked Jerry.

“That we’ve been lied to again. I think someone in this room knew about this crisis longer than the rest of us.”

The girls looked at Jerry, but he showed no signs of discomfort. “Well this is news to me, girls. I know as much as you.”

They looked at Jacob, but he was scowling at MacDonald’s image and sitting at the edge of his seat. “Well, how about it Jeff?”

MacDonald
sighed. “It’s true, we knew about the theft of the nuclear weapon a
good twenty-four hours prior to the initiation of Operation Shooting
Star.”

“What!?” the girls exclaimed.

“We were informed by the Russian government about three hours after the theft.”

Jacob stood up. “Three hours? It wouldn’t have left the country by then!”

“At the time, it was still their problem, so there was nothing we could do about it until it was in US territory.”

Alex was furious. “So you sat on the issue until it was too late? Is that it?”

MacDonald
sighed. “International crises like this are very delicate situations.
Make a wrong move and you might be at war with someone.”

“That’s no excuse! Couldn’t you have just checked all the planes from Russia when they arrived in the US?”

“If
Stephen wanted to get caught, then that’s what he would have done.
Unfortunately, he routed the package through a Chinese airline, which
we didn’t discover until it was too late.”

The
room was silent for a while after that. The girls talked to each other
in hushed whispers. Jacob’s eyes never left the screen. “Anything else
you’d like to tell us, Jeff? Or is there another detail you’d like to
fill us in on?”

“I’m sorry Jacob, but that’s all I can say.”

“Because that’s all you know or all you’re allowed to say?”

MacDonald hesitated to answer. “That’s everything I know.”

Jacob sat down. Sam turned to him and asked, “Is this what they call a “need to know” basis?”

“Textbook example.”

Jerry broke in. “I know this history lesson is fascinating, but we have more important matters to deal with now.”

“Yeah,” said Sam, “Like how do we track down Stephen now? He’s got the drop on us once again.”

“Indeed.
I’ll keep WOOHP’s ear to the ground and keep an eye out for anything
suspicious. Unfortunately, between Stephen’s careful moves and us being
handicapped by the Justice Department, we may have to wait for him to
make the next move.”

“So what do we do, Jerr?” asked Clover.

“You’ll just have to sit tight until we find something.”

Alex leaned back in her seat. “It’s not gonna be easy with the feds after us, is it?”

“No, it won’t. But, they’re easy enough to avoid as long as you know how. I can assure you they won’t hinder us.”

Clover
was tracing circles on her leg with a finger. “So, if we’re not working
with the NSA anymore and WOOHP is working on its own now, does that
mean we get our spysuits back?”

“Of course, Clover. They’re ready and waiting.”

Clover jumped out of her seat and Sam and Alex had to help hold her back. “Yay! Thank you, Jerry!”

“It’s no big deal, really. Is it, Jacob?”

“Not at all.”

Jerry
checked his watch. “You four had best find something to keep yourselves
occupied with until we find something. There’s no telling how long it
could take.”

“Can we go outside the building?” asked Alex.

“I’m afraid not. It’s best you remain here where I can find you.”

“Besides,” said Jacob, “You know the FBI is watching this place closely.”

“You’re probably right.” Said Sam.

They all left the office except for Jerry. Jacob and the girls headed back to their rooms.

The
girls talked for a couple of hours and then explored the WOOHP
facility. Much of it was off-limits and most of the rest of it was
identical-looking office spaces. However, Clover eventually discovered
the building possessed a gym, and decided they could all use a good
workout.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” said Alex. “I could use some exercise, myself. How about it, Sam?”

Sam placed her hand over her side. “I’d really love to, but my side’s still hurting. I don’t wanna tear the wound open.”

Alex and Clover looked disappointed. “Well, at least come back for the massage!”

“Yeah, I think I can manage that! I could use one, too.”

They
returned to the room and Alex and Clover changed into some workout
clothes. Sam walked them down to the gym and they left her at the door.
Sam sighed and decided to find a computer.

When
she finally found a computer lab she found a logged-in computer and
decided to do some research. She started by calling up a list of
all the buildings in the city within the WOOHP database; a huge list
which went on for many pages. She then narrowed the list by
eliminating all the buildings that lacked an accessible rooftop. The
window refreshed after a few seconds and half the list had
vanished. She then narrowed the list further by including only
those buildings with a freight elevator that went all the way to the
roof, figuring that the bomb would be heavy enough to require
mechanical help to lift it. She entered the search criteria in
and the window flickered for a few seconds and the list reappeared with
just a couple dozen entries. She looked at the names and addresses of
the buildings and realized that many of them were well away from the
downtown area.

“If I were a nuclear terrorist,
where would I set my bomb off?” She thought up an answer after a couple
of minutes. “Right in center stage, of course. Don’t these guys always
want to make a show of themselves?”

She entered
new criteria excluding all the buildings outside of the downtown area.
The list refreshed with just over a half dozen entries left. She
printed out the list and stared at it.

“Where are you?” She wondered aloud. “Are you hiding in one of these, or did I guess wrong?”

She
fanned herself with the list and stared out the door, looking for an
answer that wouldn’t come. An agent nearly passed the room when
she saw Sam at the computer and stopped.

“Miss Sam?”

“Yes?”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just wondering why you were here all by yourself.”

“My friends went to go workout, and I’m still hurt from the other day, so I decided to do some research on the situation.”

“I see. Well, good luck. We’re all counting on you.” She started to leave.

“Wait, do you know where Jacob is? I want to show him this.”

“Which one? I know a few Jacobs who work here.”

“Sorry. Jacob Ravask, the NSA agent.”

“Oh, him. I think he was going to the firing range a while ago. He might still be down there.”

“Where is that?”

“Come with me, I’ll show you.”

Sam
folded the list up and followed the agent to the elevator and she
pressed the button for the basement. While the elevator descended, Sam
decided to strike up a little conversation to pass the time.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Jennifer.”

“That’s nice. I guess you already know who I am.”

“Yep. It’s hard not to with a track record like yours.”

“How long have you been working here?”

“About two years, now.”

“What’s your job?”

“Usually I’m on the cleanup crew.”

“You’re a janitor?”

Jennifer chuckled. “No, silly. I’m a member of a team that goes in an cleans up the messes you girls leave behind.”

“Ohh, I see. So what does that involve?”

“Taking
the criminals away, putting out fires, capturing dangerous creatures,
repairing damaged property, cleaning up hazardous substances, surely
you’ve seen your own handiwork firsthand?”

“Yeah,
I guess we’re usually so happy with a successful mission we don’t
notice a lot of the time.” They were silent for a few seconds before
Sam added, “Sorry if we leave a huge mess when we’re done.”

“No problem, its all part of the job.”

The
elevator stopped and they stepped out into the WOOHP laboratories. A
thick sheet of Plexiglas separated them from the lab area, where a few
dozen scientists were working. Some of them were hunched over tiny
machines Sam couldn’t see. Others were straddling machines twice their
size. Sam wondered which ones they’d be using on the next mission. She
followed Jennifer past the labs and towards a door marked “Firing Range
Wear Protective Gear.” Just before they reached the doors, Sam heard
a loud “pop!” and looked back to see a group of scientists waving off a
cloud of smoke pouring from a machine on the floor. She heard someone
say “sorry!” before she followed Jennifer through the doors.

The
doors led to a small room with a window facing the lab entrance and
another door on the left. An agent sat behind the window and
handed them hearing protection and safety glasses. Jennifer put on the
glasses and said, “As long as they’re firing in there, always wear your
hearing protection, and never take off the glasses.”

“Okay.”

“When you hear the bell ring once, that means they’ll commence firing. When it rings twice, they’ll stop.”

“How often does the bell ring?”

“Depends on what they’re testing.”

They
put on the hearing protection and Sam’s world went silent. Jennifer
opened the sliding door and Sam immediately heard a loud explosion,
though greatly muffled. Across from the door about thirty yards away, a
pair of scientists were standing next to a huge weapon mounted on a
stand and taking notes. Apparently that’s what just fired, because the
muzzle was smoking and so was the crater in the wall at the far end of
the long firing range. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned
towards Jennifer. She made a sign like she was shooting a pistol and
pointed down the rows of firing lanes. Sam understood that it
meant the small arms range was farther down and nodded.

They
got into a cart and drove down the firing range. Scientists or agents
occupied every few lanes and were practicing with one sort of weapon or
another. Most of them emitted colorful rays of light with various
effects on the targets. A few shot flames or sprayed a fine mist.

An
agent with a pair of scientists caught her eye. They were wearing heavy
protective gear, like the kind people who diffused mines wore.
They all looked very nervous, and were carefully handling a small
spherical object. One scientist handed the object to the agent
and then retreated behind a blast shield. The other one apparently
spoke a few words to him and then also retreated to the blast shield.
The agent took a few deep breaths, cocked his arm back, and then hurled
the object as far as he could throw it. He ducked behind the blast
shield in front of him. Sam didn’t see exactly what happened because
they had passed the bunker by then, but she did hear an enormous
explosion accompanied by a brilliant light coming from the bunker and
followed by a cloud of dust which spewed from the range, engulfing the
agent and both scientists.

Eventually they
reached the short handgun firing range. Only a few agents were here,
and a few were clustered behind one of the lanes. They walked
over to this lane to find Jacob practicing on a target with his
pistol. He fired a few shots into the target and unloaded his
gun. He pressed a button and the target slid forward on the rail.
Twelve holes dotted the head and torso of the paper target in tight
clusters, and the agents watching him applauded. Sam heard a bell ring
twice, and everyone removed his or her hearing protection. Sam
and Jennifer stood back while Jacob chatted with the agents. She wasn’t
sure if it was the lights or not, but Sam thought he looked more pale
than before.

He finally saw her standing there and said, “Hey, Sam! Fancy seeing you all the way down here.”

He
walked over to where she stood. Up close, Jacob looked exhausted. His
eyes looked lifeless and he seemed to be standing up straight only with
difficulty.

“I just wanted to show you
something.” She removed the list from her pocket and handed it to him.
Jacob read over the list and handed it back to her.

“Good work. Jerry came up with a similar list not too long ago. Did you find that on your own?”

“Yeah. I just cross-referenced all the criteria I thought were necessary for Stephen’s hiding spot.”

“That’s about what Jerry did. You may well take his place someday at this rate.”

“Please don’t say that!”

“Hey, I meant that as a compliment.”

“Well, it’s a bad compliment.”

“Geez, sorry.”

“Anyway, are you doing anything right now?”

“Not really, why?”

“Just bored. Alex and Clover went to work out and I sorta can’t right now.”

“I know how that feels.” He started to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room. I need to lay down.”

“Mind if I come as far as my room?”

“Man, you must really be bored.”

They left the firing range and returned to the elevator. On the way up, Jacob seemed lost in thought.

“What’re you thinking about?”

“Trying to guess Stephen’s next move. What do you think he’ll do next?”

“Try
to contact you somehow. That’s my guess. No way he’ll come out and say
where he is. He’ll make us find that out on our own.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“The question is, how will he contact us, and can we figure out where he is?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The elevator stopped and Jacob stepped out. Sam held the door. “Wait, you’re on this floor?”

“Nah, I just needed something to drink.”

“Oh.” She followed him down the hallway.

“What do you plan on doing once this is over with?” He asked when she caught up.

“I plan on taking a nice long nap and putting this whole nightmare behind me, that’s what.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“The sooner I can stop playing this high-stakes game the better, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m
all for keeping the world safe, but the kinds of danger you people have
put me and my friends in is just over the top, you know? I’ve been lied
to, shot, betrayed, chased by mercenaries, and I’ve almost killed
people. If I never have to work with you people again, I’ll be just
fine with that!”

“That’s nice.”

“What
do you think, Jacob? Do you sometimes feel like the NSA is pushing you
around too much?” She looked up and noticed that he wasn’t next to her
anymore. “Jacob?”

She heard his voice from down the hall behind her. “Sam, I don’t feel so good.”

She
turned around and saw Jacob on the floor in the fetal position. He was
shaking uncontrollably and his breathing was shallow and ragged.

“Jacob!”

She
knelt beside him and placed her hand on his forehead. It was hot to the
touch and he was still shaking. “Come on, don’t get sick on me now! Get
up!”

He didn’t respond. All he did was continue shaking.

Sam looked around. No one was in sight.

“Somebody help me!”

Sam
followed the gurney as far as the emergency room doors, where a nurse
told her to wait. She watched the doctor and nurses roll the bed around
a corner and she lost sight of them. Sam turned to the nurse.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“We’re not sure. His temperature’s extremely high and his muscles are experiencing spasms all over.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We’ll
try to get his muscle spasms under control and reduce his fever, but as
far as I can tell that’s about all we can do at the moment.”

“Thank
you.” Sam walked away from the emergency room to the waiting room. She
found Alex and Clover there, still sweaty from their workout. They ran
to her and blurted out, “Sam, what happened?”

“Jacob’s sick. I don’t know why.”

“I guess this’ll put him out of commission for a while, huh?” said Alex.

Clover rolled her eyes and sighed. “Wonderful, just wonderful. It’s not like we have enough to worry about!”

As if on cue, a hole in the wall appeared and sucked them in.

“On the other hand, Jerry thinks we do need some more things to deal with!”

They
slid down the tunnel and crashed into the cushion at the end. It fell
away to reveal Jerry’s office, with Jerry standing there, calm as ever.

“Good afternoon, ladies.”

“Hi, Jerr.”

“Let me guess,” said Clover as they untangled themselves from one another, “We found him?”

“Possibly.
Our sources around the city tell us that a lot of suspicious activity
is going on in the upper levels of the Michelangelo Plaza, which isn’t
far from here.”

“What kind of activity?” asked Alex.

“Nothing
too out of the ordinary, actually. Just heavily-armed men patrolling
the upper ten floors, elevators won’t go to those floors, the fact that
the men seem to be protecting something, nothing too strange.”

The girls rolled their eyes.

“Anyway, it seems that the armed force is what’s left of WOLF, so you know what to expect.”

Clover sat up straight. “Alright, so what do we do?”

“Since
it’s likely they’re guarding the bomb, you’ll be spearheading a raid on
the building by WOOHP. Our agents will provide backup and we’ll be
sending a couple of bomb experts in with you. Speed is of the essence,
so get in and get the job done as quickly as possible.” He moved to the
table in front of the desk. “You’ll be taking a portable shield
generator wristband, magnet-driven hover-boots, knockout gas-loaded
boomerangs, and your old favorites, the bungee belts. The agents
backing you up will be carrying stun guns, so watch the crossfire or
you may become a useless floor decoration.”

He tossed backpacks to Alex and Clover. Sam noticed this and said, “Hey! What about me?”

“You’re still injured, Sam. Or are you up to the challenge?”

“You bet!” She stood up too fast and winced noticeably.

“Your
courage is admirable as always, but I can’t risk sending an injured spy
on such an important mission. I’m afraid you’ll have to sit this one
out.”

Dejected, Sam sat down. Alex squeezed her
shoulder and turned to Jerry. “Well, we’re ready, Jerr!” She and Clover
braced themselves, but nothing happened.

“Uh, Jerr, anytime you’d like to WOOHP us would be great.”

“It’s only 4:00 in the afternoon, girls. We can’t charge into an occupied building at rush hour, you know.”

“Yeah, that would be a bad idea, I suppose.”

“We’ll
hit the building as soon as the last employee leaves. We’ve already got
security on our side, sois there something wrong, Clover?”

“Oh, it’s nothing! I just remembered what happened the last time we worked with security.”

“I can assure you none of your classmates are working at this place.”

“Thank goodness. I wonder how David’s doing right now?”

“At any rate, I want you two to be careful. Not only are you a spy short, but Jacob is also out of commission.”

“You know we’ll do our best, Jerry.”

“You
haven’t let me down yet, girls.” He pressed the WOOHP button and the
three of them were sucked into the ceiling. Jerry saw an assistant
standing dumbfounded at the door.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Sorry, force of habit.”

Sam
did her best to keep on the sunny side of things, but it didn’t stop
her from becoming despondent from time to time. Clover and Alex
did their best to cheer her up. Whenever Sam started looking
depressed, they made sure they got busy doing something.

They
eventually went to the massage parlor adjacent to the gym. The
masseuse’s nimble hands smoothed out the knots in their muscles and
even helped Sam’s wound feel better.

Alex turned to Sam. “I hope Jacob is alright. What’s wrong with him?”

“I
don’t know.” Sam paused while the masseuse worked on a tight knot of
muscle in her shoulders. “I’ll go ask after we get done here.”

“I
have to say,” said Clover, “This really is some bad luck on our part.
Not only are we going against those WOLF people again, but this time
without you or Jacob.” Something went “pop” in Clover’s back and she
almost melted right then and there.

“Yeah, last time he took care of those WOLF mercenaries almost all by himself. No such help this time.”

“Yeah,
but at least we’re not going alone.” Said Alex. “This time we’ve got
WOOHP agents backing us up, and they’re all using stun guns, so no
pointless killing this time, right?”

“Maybe not from your end, but those mercenaries aren’t exactly carrying dart guns.”

“Ahh, we’ll be fine.” Said Clover. “Between our new gadgets and the WOOHP backup, we’ll have that bomb in no time.”

After
the massage, they went to the infirmary to check on Jacob. They found
him comatose on a bed, an I.V. stuck into his arm and an oxygen tube
under his nose. A nurse was checking the monitor when they walked up.

“Hi, can I help you?”

Sam spoke for the group. “Yes, we wanted to know what happened to him? All I know is he collapsed and had a high fever.”

“The
truth is, he was already sick, but he kept pushing himself as hard as
ever. He never slowed down to rest, and that made the fever even worse.
It’s a combination of high stress with a high fever.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.
We were afraid it was Tetanus at first, but he’s lucky that’s not the
case. If you’ll excuse me, I have some other patients to take care of.”
She walked past the girls and out of the infirmary.

The
girls circled around the bed. Jacob looked weak and helpless lying
there in a hospital bed. His hair was a matted mess and his skin
was ghostly pale. He didn’t look at all like the confident agent
they’d been working with.

“Well, so this is it.”
Said Clover. “Our fearless partner has been done in by a microbe and
his own overconfidence. Funny, I’d expect it to be some sort of super
villain the way he fights.”

Alex glared at Clover. “Come on, that’s rude!”

“But it’s true!”

“Yeah, but that’s no reason to insult him when he’s out cold.”

“Well, it’s his fault anyway. I knew he wasn’t well this morning, and I thought he looked worse for wear last night, too.”

They all crossed their arms and stared at the bed. “So what do we do now?” asked Clover.

“I guess we wait for Jerry to send us, or at least you guys off.”

“What time is it, anyway?”

Sam checked her watch. “Wow, it’s 6:30 already?”

Alex stretched. “Man, time flies when you’re getting a deep-tissue massage!”

At
that exact moment, floor panels dropped away and Alex and Clover
disappeared, leaving Sam alone in the infirmary with their comatose
partner.

A pair of WOOHP zip craft swung around
a building and sped towards one of the taller buildings in the downtown
area. Alex and Clover were each in one of them with six other WOOHP
agents. The thick clouds overhead created an early night, which gave
the ships extra cover as they swooped through the night towards their
destination.

The stubby wings of the craft ended
in jet engines which were modified for quiet operation, thus the
inhabitants on the streets below had no idea their best chance for
survival was flying just a couple hundred feet overhead.

Clover walked to the cockpit of the zip craft and leaned in. “How much further?”

“We’re
coming up on it now, Miss.” Said the pilot. He banked around another
building and centered the windshield on a tall building on the edge of
the downtown area. Most of the lights were out, except for the
top ten floors.

“Where are we landing? On the roof?”

One
of the WOOHP agents, a gruff-looking black man stood next to her.
“Negative, we’re landing in the park behind it and going in through the
back door. Didn’t you pay attention at the briefing?”

“Hey! Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Yes, and do you know you’re talking to one of the two bomb experts on this team?”

“Well sorry-gee! I’ve only done this a hundred times and it’s always easier to go in through the roof!”

The
navigator turned around in her seat. “If you two want to step outside
and settle this, you’re more than welcome to! We’re only about three
hundred feet above solid concrete!”

“We’re coming up on the landing zone.” Said the pilot. “Everyone get ready to deploy!”

Clover
and the bomb expert settled down in their seats. The pilot banked well
short of the building and brought it around to the back. A park
sat below them, with a pair of open spaces large enough to allow the
ships to land. The ships slowed down to a halt and the engines pointed
down to allow them to hover. The pilots reduced the throttles and
lowered the black ships down below the trees. As soon as the wheels
touched the grass, fourteen agents hopped out of them and made a
beeline for the building.

Alex caught up to Clover as they entered the shadows of the trees. It felt good to be back in their old jumpsuits again.

“This is it, Clover! You ready?”

“I was born ready for this!”

The
team reached the cargo doors in the back of the building and stood
aside as the security experts deciphered the electronic locks and let
them in. The agents poured into the open doors with their stun guns
ready and quickly scanned the room as they entered. Only the security
lights were on, and no one was in the loading platform. All clear so
far.

Alex and Clover led the way out of the
platform and towards the front of the building. They stopped at
every corner and hallway junction to check for mercenaries, but found
none. The reached the elevators and pressed the buttons.

“Nobody’ here.” Said Alex.

“You think they’re all on the top ten floors?”

“That’s my best guess.”

“You know these things don’t go all the way up, right?”

“I know, we take them as far as they’ll go and take the stairs the rest of the way up.”

The
elevators arrived and the doors opened. A pair of agents leaned into
each one to check for traps. Finding none, they waved the others in. A
notice on the panel stated that the elevators were malfunctioning and
would not rise to the 25th floor and above.

“Go
figure” muttered Clover as she pressed the button for the 24th
floor. The doors closed and the elevators rapidly ascended the
building.

When the doors opened at the 24th
floor, Alex and Clover started to exit, but were stopped by the agents.
One of them sprayed a mist in front of the door, which revealed trip
lasers at the bottom. They each stepped over the laser and found
explosives attached to the walls on either side of the elevators.

“Man, I guess they’re ready for us.” Said Alex.

“Nobody’s ever ready for us, right Alex?”

“If you say so.” Two sets of staircases at the back and front of the building led up. “Let’s go.”

They split into two teams. Alex headed for the back while Clover led her team to the front.

Clover’s
team reached the front stairs. The agents checked for hostiles before
moving into the stairwell. Clover looked up and immediately noticed a
problem. The stairs above their floor were damaged beyond repair,
meaning they couldn’t go up.

“Do you guys have grappling hooks or something?”

“No ma’am, we weren’t issued any.” Said one agent.

“Well that’s just great. You guys find another way in. I’ll keep going this way.”

The
agents departed and headed back to the elevators. Clover removed
the buckle from her belt and fired it at the ceiling a few floors
above. She heard the magnetic hook catch on something and she started
ascending the broken staircase. She ascended a couple of floors and got
off. This staircase didn’t go to the roof, so she’d have to work around
to the front and go up from there. The only problem with that was
an unknown number of mercenaries stood between her and the other
staircase, and she didn’t have any agents backing her up anymore.

She
stood next to the door and muttered, “No time like the present.” She
threw open the door and leaped into the opposite room just as a volley
of gunfire shredded the walls around her. She tried to peek out of the
room to get a look at her attacker, but all she saw was a barrel before
another burst caused her to retreat. Thinking fast, she activated her
hover boots and turned on her shield. The bracelet glowed and a
transparent elliptical shield materialized from her wrist.

“Cool!”

She
stood up and braced herself for the charge. Using the boots like
skates and holding the shield between herself and her attacker, she
slid out into the hallway. There was no gunman, just a machine gun
attached to a motion-tracking device. The gun saw her and started
firing. The bullets bounced off the shield while Clover skated towards
the gun. The bracelet beeped, meaning that the shield was about to
fail. Clover placed one foot on the wall and then started skating
along the wall. The gun lost track of her for a second just as her
shield failed. This gave her just enough time to jump behind the gun
and turn it off. She deactivated her boots and ran to the
elevator, where the other agents were climbing out of the shaft.

“What happened? We heard gunfire.”

“It’s nothing, let’s go.”

Alex’s
team was having a much harder time. As soon as they’d entered the 28th
floor, mercenaries were firing on them. The agents returned fire, but
they were still pinned down.

“We gotta get rid of these guys!” said the agent kneeling next to Alex.

“No kidding! She flinched as another burst tore at the wall they were hiding behind.

“We’ve got to get past these guys, now!”

“Hang
on, I think I have something!” She drew the boomerang from her belt.
She waited for the mercenaries to reload and then threw it down the
corridor. The boomerang lodged itself in the opposite wall and began
spewing smoke. Within seconds the mercenaries were out cold.

“Let’s go!”

They
sprinted down the corridor and over the unconscious mercenaries. Alex
paused to dislodge her boomerang and then continued to the place the
mercenaries were guarding; the freight elevator.

“This thing goes all the way to the roof.” Said one of the agents.

Alex pressed the button. “Be ready for anything.”

The elevator arrived and they all filed in.

Clover’s
team forced their way through the 31st floor. The agents kept a steady
stream of stunner fire on the mercenaries while working towards the
back staircase. They’d discovered the mercenaries had destroyed the
stairs leading to every other floor, meaning that they’d have to zigzag
up the building and be forced into confrontations with waiting
mercenaries. The only working elevator was the freight elevator, and it
only responded from the 28th floor. To make matters worse, the elevator
shafts were mined.

An agent put one last stun
round into a mercenary and they charged for the staircase. They
ran up a flight of stairs and Clover waved them through the next door.
Just as the last agent passed her, an explosive detonated under the
floor and it fell away with Clover still on it. Clover instinctively
grabbed her bungee belt and fired it at the next level. The hook
grabbed the wall and Clover stopped and swung into the wall while the
wreckage crashed into the lower stairwell.

One of the agents leaned over. “Clover, are you okay?”

“I’m
fine, keep going! I’ll catch up!” She started winding the belt in and
climbed the wall to the next floor. When she reached the buckle,
she deactivated it as she kicked off the wall and somersaulted
gracefully onto the staircase. She ran up the stairs to the next
floor. As soon as she opened the door, she heard something go
“click.” She dove out of the way as automatic fire pockmarked the door
as it closed. She opened her Compowder and used the mirror to see
around the corner. A lone mercenary was crouched down the hall and
aiming his rifle at her. He spotted the movement and she dodged back as
a burst took a chunk of the wall where her head was.

Clover turned her hover boots on and pressed the switch on her bracelet, but nothing happened.
“Oh, this is just great! Nice timing you piece of junk!”

She
took a deep breath, exhaled and charged into the corridor. The boots
gave her an extra boost of speed as she aimed for an alcove down the
hall. She kept her head low as the mercenary’s bullets danced around
her feet and decorated the walls with new holes.

She made the alcove and stopped. Her heart was racing, her breath was short, and she was sweating profusely.

The
gun fired again and drew a line right past her hiding spot. He’s
calling me out, she thought. As soon as I set foot out there, he’ll
nail me. What to do? What to do! She remembered the boomerang. It
looked pathetic in this situation, but it was all she had. Let’s see,
no shield, and no weapons except this little thing, no backup, and only
a slight chance this’ll work. Why does this always have to be difficult?

She
threw the boomerang at the mercenary and charged him. The sight
of two targets flying at him momentarily distracted the mercenary, and
the boomerang hit him square in the face. Clover followed it up by
leaping at the stunned mercenary and planting both feet firmly in his
chest. She managed to knock the mercenary down and his gun went flying
from his hands. However, the mercenary rolled backwards and stopped a
few feet from Clover. As he stood up, he drew a knife strapped to his
leg and hopped up into a fighting stance.

Clover
shuffled her feet and braced for a fight. The mercenary charged first
and slashed with the knife. Clove dodged it and then leapt back
to avoid a second slash. The mercenary reversed his grip on the knife
and slashed at Clover, following it up with a stab. Clover barely
evaded the stab, grabbed the mercenary by the shoulders, and then
flipped over him and kicked off his head. He went down, but quickly
stood up again.

“You’re tough!”

“Thanks, it’s been a real pleasure fighting ya, kid.”

“You’re welcome, too bad you’re about to lose.”

They
attacked each other simultaneously this time. Clover disarmed him with
a well-timed roundhouse kick, and followed it with a reverse kick to
the stomach. This stunned the mercenary, and she took advantage
by delivering a swift somersault kick to his jaw. His eyes rolled back
in his head, but he still didn’t fall down and he started recovering.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

She
flew at him and planted her right fist in the side of his face.
Something cracked, and the mercenary fell to the floor out cold.

She
looked up and realized she was standing in front of the freight
elevator. Without thinking, she pressed the button. A few seconds
later, the door opened and Clover found herself on the business end of
a half dozen stun guns.

“Wait! Don’t shoot! I’m a good guy!”

“Clover!” said Alex. “What happened? Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Right
here!” said a voice from behind Clover. The rest of the team was
walking up. “We’ve neutralized the rest of the mercenaries, let’s get
that bomb.”

“Right, let’s go!” Clover waved them
on. It was then she noticed that her hand was limp and starting to
swell up. Once on the elevator, she turned to the agent she’d argued
with on the transport. “It’s all over after this, right?”

“Yeah, it should be.”

“Good! Because I think I broke my hand!” She held up her right hand.

Alex looked concerned. “Does that hurt?”

“Strangely enough, no.”

The elevator stopped. The indicator said “R.”

“Well, let’s finish this, Clover.”

“It’s about time.”

The
elevator doors opened into the night. The roof was well lit and a
helipad sat in the middle. Just to the left of the helipad in a shadow
sat an ordinary-looking object that seemed out of place. They
hurried to it, and the team made way for the bomb experts, who began
examining the object.

Alex and Clover stood off from the rest of the team so that Alex could get a good look at Clover’s hand.

“Man, that guy must have had an iron jaw.”

“Must have. Does it hurt yet?”

“Sort of.” She gently squeezed the swelling tissue, which was tender to the touch and turning purple.

“You’ll need to get that looked at quick. Guess you won’t be eating sushi for a while.”

The
bomb experts were arguing with each other. The girls looked over at the
team, who all looked like they just found out their mothers had died.
One of the bomb experts hurried over to the girls.

“What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t the bomb.”

It took a second for that to register. “What?”

“This isn’t the bomb. It’s a decoy.”

Alex grabbed him by the collar. “A decoy! Did you just say this is a dummy?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said.”

Clover took him away from Alex. “How can you be certain? You’ve only been looking at it for a couple of minutes!”

“There’s
no radiation coming from it! If that thing had a microgram of Uranium
or Plutonium in it we’d know, but we’re not getting anything!”

Clover let go of him. “So you’re saying the real bomb is somewhere else?”

“Apparently, yes.”

Clover started getting hysterical. “Hey Alex, did you hear that? This isn’t the bomb. Isn’t that hilarious?”

Alex shook Clover hard. “Get a hold of yourself, Clover! We’ve got to find the real bomb now!”

“And just how do we do that?”

“I don’t know, but we have to find a way!”

The
WOOHP zip craft came to hover over the helipad and the first one was
descending. Alex wracked her brain. What do we do? What the hell are we
going to do?