To Save the World

Mikael

After a breig conversation i was finally faced with the team of academy students who would be entering my work zone.
"Hello Ryan Ashley," i couldn't help smiling at the mixture of expressions. Some looked at me with reverance, others fear and a certain group with anger.
"So, this is the team who will be entering my country. We are Grey Alpha." I smirked again at the gasps of the recruits. "This is War," i said indicating a large battle scared 18 year old who was cleaning a shotgun. "This is Plague," i said indicating a youth who was currently putting a strange and obviously explosive device toghether. "And this charming little lady is Famine," i smiled indicating a thin beautiful 18 year old.
"Get bent Mikey" replied Famine giving me the finger.
"Now who are you? I want names, code names and jobs stat." I snapped out the order before dissassembling my precious sniper rifle and cleaning it.

Scot

A plane started descending as we got over china. I flipped through all the gadgets I was careful to not press anything that could end up being a bomb.

"Have we got any weapons and I don't mean some fancy weapon I mean a good old fashion gun, no offence Malcolm, its just if I get surrounded for whatever reason I want to be able to pull out a gun not a keyring" I said searching through the bag. Cassia looked down at the equipment file.

"well it says we have two sniper rifles and three ak-47s but that their for defending are apartment if are cover gets blown" Cassia said and I nodded.

"rifles would be a little hard to carry around any way, but I don't see why they don't just give us a jazzed up apartment with hundreds of American soldiers to guard us" I said twiddling a paper clip that I had found at the bottom of the bag, when I looked at Malcolm however he was taking cautious steps backwards and I put the paper clip back immediately. Everything in the whole bloody bag must been dangerous, I should probably ask Malcolm what the paper clip dose but then again I probably don't want to know. I was brought out f my thought by a slap on the head from Cassia.

"did you learn anything from school, if we went to the guarded place then we would immediately start being watched by the Chinese we'd of blown are cover before the mission had even started" Cassia said and I realized what stupid question it had been. Elmira came out of her corner and Cassia gave her a look.

"so who are we then?" Elmira asked. Malcolm opened up a black suitcase that had passports, wallets family photos and more.

"it says here were students from America, oh but your English you just just lived in America Jak" Malcolm said and I grabbed the pouch with my name on it. It had a photo of me with two parents who both looked very proud of be I was wearing graduation clothes and a little girl was smiling she was missing two front teeth. The guy in the picture was me exactly, the only thing was that this had never happened and I had no clue who the parents were or the sister, on another picture exactly the same as the one I had just looked at they were labeled.
The little girl was Emma and the others two were mum and dad, it had the fake ages and birthdays of all of them including my own.

"nice craftsman ship on these pictures, you'd need a lab to tell that they were fake" Malcolm said. I nodded and after memorising the picture with the names and ages on as required I burnt the picture and sealed the ashed in a tight plastic bag which would be incinerated later. I checked my passport and and my I.D I was called Jack Michael's and was twenty three years old. at the bottom of the pouch was a key to the apartment and a roll of dollar bills I would get them exchanged when I got to the China. I took out a wallet and put the money in then I slipped the passport into my bag and my I.D into the wallet.

"Jak theirs more for you" Cassia said just as I was about to leave to go to sleep. Turning around I smiled.

"yeah what" I asked and she through me a whole briefcase. Dam I though.

"it says here that a Russian double agents who has been undercover for the past five years was going to come to china but he was are double agent and has changed all his pictures so he looks like you, your going to take his identity, no ones ever really seen what he looks like so you'll be fine." Cassia said reading partly off a file.

"great I said and sat down on the sofa to look through my Identity. At the top of the brief case was a black bow I opened it and Malcolm was immediately all over it.

"amazing, now I know were all the money went on the mission this is grade A stuff, look" Malcolm said and put a metal canister to my hair, I felt a shiver down my spine for a second I punched out and hit Malcolm in the gut he doubled over.

"warn me next time" I said and he nodded.

"wow" Cassia said and when I looked in the mirror I saw why my hair had gone blond not super blond but normal blond. Malcolm used the canister again and my hair turned normal again.

"since your going to be a Russian and a student you need to look different for each personality. this tiny pen here will change you eye colour to blue and this one here well I'll show you" Malcolm said and took a tiny metal cylinder and pressed a button at the top. I prickled slightly but when I turned back to the mirror I had a neat rectangle of facial hair just on my chin. I went through the briefcase, reading psychological profiles and habits of the man, I read footnotes of his missions and profiles written about him, He had written a biography as well but it hadn't yet been published. He'd let the mission end first, I was half way through the book when I must of dozed off.

"wake up Jak" I heard someone say before I could respond their was a bumf as we landed.

Jesse

As he reclined in his seat, hat pulled down over his eyes, Jesse heard Mikael's voice over the jet's speaker system. He tipped his hat back a little and smiled at the face on the screen. Sure, he knew Eisenstein's reputation as the CIA's best assassin, but it didn't really spook him. After all, they were on the same side, and even if they weren't, he wouldn't be worried. No one wanted to kill a Wallace, it was practically a family attribute.

"Mikael Eisenstein, how're you doing?" He said.

Mikael looked at him, smiling back a little. Jesse wouldn't admit it, but he found that smile a little disconcerting, like he was being regarded as food. Of course, his expression didn't falter in the slightest, there was no way someone could tell he'd been slightly put off. "Name, code name, position." Mikael said.

Jesse stood up, smoothed his clothes out a little, then said simply, "Jesse Wallace, Fox, Social Engineer for the Red Team. I look forward to working with the famous Grey Alpha."

Diana - Red

Diana was livid. She was typing angrily on her computer, trying to figure out how Eisenstien had gotten into her system. Finally, the endless lines of code gave her a break. Diana quickly began working to seal the gap in her programing, and add more protection to her system.

Diana barely heard it when Jesse rattled off all of the information Eisenstien had asked for. Diana stopped, looking up at Jesse.

"What are you doing?" she snapped.

Jesse looked affronted. "If we are to join with Grey Alpha, we must share our information with each other."

"Idiot," hissed Diana. "Did you hear him give us his team's real name or position?"

Jesse began to say something, but Diana ignored him. She glared at Eisenstien's face in the plasma screen. "Double agents are a real possibility here," she spat. "Excuse us if we only give you information that you have given us. Tit for Tat."

Diana's glare only hardened as Eisenstien began to laugh. She would not lose to this man again.

Mikael

I couldn't help laughing at Dianas outburst.
"You really think WE are going to give our real names and designations to a bunch of kids who havent even graduated? We know tricks you haven't even been taught yet."
"Oh yeah" replied Diana smiling. "Well out do this." She pressed enter on her keyboard and looked most annoyed when nothing happened.
"Well done" said Plague from behind me. "You locked out our primary route into your server but thats not enough to beat me."
Diana began hunting angrily through the lines of data coursing down her screen.
"Of course! A secondary root matrix!" She exclaimed.
"Well done but have you noticed the slight adjustment?"
"You have sealed of the back door in the programming."
"Excellent. I can see why they picked you dor this mission. You are perfect techie material."
I couldn't help but smile. Plague was already bringing the most difficult member of their team into our merry group.
I had knwn Plague a long time. We had come to the school toghether as kids and we knew each other like we were family. Every scar on the other could be accounted for by the other, be it a bike ride as kids to a tour in Afganistan. We had seen it all toghether and it made us the best team on the planet.

*is it too late to join?*

Name: John Littlewood
General Code Name: Plague
Team: Grey Alpha
Appearance: short and practically wasting away. But the speed his spindley fingers can whirr across a keyboard puts a crack addict to shame.
Age: 17
Personality: Unnecessarily anti-social, but excellent at his job. Doesn't talk unless absolutely necessary
Role on the Team: Techie
History: Childhood friends with Grey Alpha's leader, codename: Death, and constantly tormented by codename: War. Rarely talks to codename: Famine partly through nerves but mostly through not having time for people.

Elmira

The plane had finally landed. I was excited and I wanted to jump around, I had always hated flying, but I knew I would probably look like a hyper active rabbit on crack. People were starting to wake up and it looked as if I wasn't the only one ready to get outside.

I heard the footsteps behind me. I cocked an eyebrow. They were heavy footsteps with a long stride, not Cassia's light, short walk. I sighed. Too bad. I needed to talk to her.

"Yes?" I asked the person. The person, most likely a guy, stopped.

"Just seeing if you were ready."

I kept my back to him and smiled a little. "I'm always ready. Aren't we all?"

"I suppose so," he said, amused. I turned to see Malcolm. I knew what he wanted.

"I won't say sorry so don't ask. I probably should be a little easier on you, but I'll always be suspicious," I responded to his unsaid statement. he knew I didn't trust him.

"You don't waste any time do you?"

I cocked an eyebrow, and smiled a little.

"I don't see a reason to waste time with small talk."

Malcolm chuckled a little. "I see. Point taken."

"Well I guess I'll be out in a moment. I was just waiting for Cassia," I replied. "Do you know where she's at?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Not really. I suppose she may be with Scot still."

"Thanks," I said, my normal emotionless voice added more emphasis. I still felt a little guilty for being to rude. I shook my head and walked away. I didn't even think I still had a conscious. Pity. I guess I was wrong.

Oh guys, since I made Malcolms mom a double agent, working for an unknown place, I am going to make it China. To add to this. Also, Could someone ask Malcolm what his mission was like.

Diana

"Excellent. I can see why they picked you for this mission. You are perfect techie material."

Diana smirked. "Nice try. Flattery doesn't work with me."

Diana looked through her program again. She started to see patterns in the data and lines of code. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Diana pulled up the computer's recent history. She repressed a smile. Diana's history program was more than the run-of-the-mill recording software. Computer history was not usually an area that was paid much attention, and therefore hackers could get careless with it. But Diana always made a point to strengthen the history programs. The result? Diana could practically read the hacker's every move by looking at which files had been modified.

As Diana scanned the history records, 'Plague's distinct style became clear to her. He was thorough, fixing what needed editing. But at the same time, he was careful to leave gaps that he could re-enter later. That was how Diana's alteration to her program had not worked. 'Plague's hacking style was similar to Swiss cheese. Some of the holes were very obvious and easy to block. But there were double the amount of smaller, more subtle holes that Diana had not seen.

Diana glanced up at Eisenstien's face on the plasma screen. He had no idea how close she was to him at that moment.

Diana began to carefully seal the gaps in her program. She was careful, going back many times to read through the lines of code and make sure she had gotten them all. Slowly, her work seemed to show progress.

Now Diana began to weave some of her own hacking magic into her fixes. Imagine a spider's web with a window behind it. Diana would cover the holes with the spider net. If 'Plague' were to try and force some of his programs into Diana's server again, what he would see would be the programs penetrating Diana's system. He would suspect nothing, but in reality they would get caught in the spider's web. Diana, as any good spider would do, would check her webs regularly. If she saw a program stuck in it, she would inspect the program from a safe distance and figure out its worth to her. If the program could be put to good use, Diana would make a copy of it and save it on her system. If not, she would force it back to its home server.

Diana exhaled slowly. She was almost done weaving her web in the last hole. But Diana could not seal her last hole without getting back at 'Plague' for hacking into her system. That would never do.

Diana opened one of her own hacking programs, a spy camera, of sorts. She carefully inserted it into the last hole in her program, sending into 'Plague's server. The program would sit tight in his server, and not cause any damage. Yet. The program also served as a wormhole for any other virus Diana wished to send in later.

It was with great pleasure that Diana sealed up her last hole. Eisenstien's face was still projected onto the plasma screen. Diana wanted them to underestimate her skills. But they no longer held sway over Diana's server. In fact, Diana held power over them.

Robert

Talk was cut to a minimum as we split into three groups and approached the apartment. As the scout, I was to arrive first. Alone. It was an ordinary looking building but that didn't matter to me. I'd live out the last days of my life anywhere. I walked in casually, noting the security cameras in the corners and a few hidden ones. I didn't like the look of the elevator so I looked in there first, riding it up to our floor and then going out and down the hall.

I unlocked the door quickly without a care in the world and stepped into the apartment. It was surprisingly large, probably covered the whole of this floor. I checked it out and found myself to be right. Those other doors to 1A, 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B all led to the same room, my own, 1B. Squeezing the dime I said:

"I'm inside. The rooms are safe, cameras in the entrance hall only so we'll be free to talk. A possible camera in the elevator though and I don't like the sound of those electronics. Tour the city a little longer while I check out the other floors." I sent the same message to both pairs; Cassia and Elmira and Malcolm and Jak.

Stepping out into the hall, I manouvered my way around any possible cameras and scouted out the other floors. Fifteen minutes later, I rubbed the dime and said twice over:

"All clear."

I made my way back to the apartment and made myself at home. They'd come a pair at a time as pre-arranged. The first pair would be entering through 3A and the second through 2B with about twenty minutes in between.

Devon-

"Diana, we have our orders from base. Can you just cut them off?" I asked. Diana looked at Ryan who nodded his permission. Obviously, he also didn't like the feeling of being watched by the new "allies."

Eisenstein smirked on the screen. "Aw, you want to cut us off so soon?"

"No offence, but I don't really trust names like Death, Famine, Plague, and War," I said.

"Diana, now," Ryan said calmly and Diana pressed a button on her keyboard, ending the transmission. Jesse stood up.

"What is with you guys?"

"Us? What's with you? Are you going to give out your information everywhere you go?" I asked angrily.

"They would have made great allies!"

"They may have been double agents! They already know what we look like and who one of our crew is! Maybe we should change your name to 'Mouth'."

"Stop you two!" Ryan shouted over us. Jesse and I both looked at him. "Now I don't know what side Grey Alpha is on, but that is not our concern. We are landing right now and we need a full team to complete this mission. Shake hands, get over it, and let's get ready to go!"

I looked at Jesse and reluctantly held out my hand. Jesse looked at it and then back at Ryan.

"Now," said Ryan. Jesse reluctantly took my hand and shook it a little before pulling away. Diana rolled her eyes.

"you boys are so annoying."

Jak

I walked with Malcolm though the busy streets of Beijing it was late and the area were people lived was silent apart from beeping from the nearby motorway. It was just a few streets from are new apartment. Malcolm veered off to the right and down a dark alleyway. When we emerged from the dark street we were standing at the back of the apartments.

"sweet, nice escape route " I said and Malcolm nodded pulling out a laptop he brought up a map of the building and entered something a second after he pressed enter the dark alleyway appeared on the map. he passed me a night vision camera and I stuck one on the mouth of the Alley and followed after Malcolm. We both walked round the building and into the lobby once we were in the elevator Malcolm spoke again.

"hold still for a second" He said and we both stood still. Malcolm pressed a red button and we held are positions for three seconds then it buzzed and Malcolm got to work . He plugged something into the camera and typed a long sequence into the laptop. After he was done we both stood to are starting postions and Malcolm pressed the button again.

"their now all the footage from that camera will head to are room as well as the security booth" Malcolm said as we stared along the corridor to are apartment.

"good work I'm alright with computers and I didn't have a clue what you were doing" I said laughing at myself

"baby stuff really" Malcolm said I nodded and smiled but stopped when we got to the door.

"were are you going?" Malcolm said as I opened the briefcase and changed my hair blond.

"I'll come in for a sec but I have to go to my apartment the one my Russian self has" I said and walked in when Malcolm opened the door I said Hi to Rob who was sitting on the couch flicking mindlessly through TV channels. I went to my room and changed into the black suit that was basically required for all agents whether they were low down or high up. I took out a card is said my name was Jak Resnov class 2 access , At the bottom of the bag was a silver pistol with a silencer lying next to it. I put the silencer in my jackets inside pocket. The pistol in a holster. I finished perparing by practising my russian voice. When I walked out Cassia and Elmira had arrived and Elmira was setting up a sniper which looked down on the main road.

"woah you look all dressed up don't you" Malcolm said looking up from the computer grid he was assembling.

"piss off" I joked and pulled on a navy jacket.

"report in six hours" Cassia said as I pulled the door shut.

*Cassia*

Mira, Malcolm, Rob, and myself were all back at the apartment. I was in the room that I shared with Mira and was reading the journal that Dad gave me. I missed them already, but I knew that I couldn't show any weakness. My parents hadn't brought me up that way.

*Cassia*

I was in the room that I shared with Elmira planning the next days events. We would be going on a "field trip" to the tomb of Mao Zedong. A previous spy had figured out that the base of everything was going on below his tomb, so we would go as a group. At some point, Malcolm and I would go to the "bathroom" and do some more snooping for the base of operation while Jak, Mira, and Rob would do the snooping above ground.

I came up with some fake IDs for everybody and ran them off in the computer. I sent them to the CIA to get all of the legal stuff that they would check, and in ten minutes, I had every one's new identities.

I called them in to give it to them. I wished that Jak was there, but he would be arriving in about an hour. The five hours had passed quickly.

"Okay, Elmira, you are now known as Raella Jackson, daughter of wealthy cotton plantation owner." I gave her the ID and laughed at her wince. "Don't worry. You won't have to be social."

I stepped in front of Malcolm. "You are now William Gates, heir of the Windows fortune."

He took the card and shook his head. "If only." he said whistfully.

I shrugged, but said nothing. "Rob, you're now Stryker Wellman. Your mother is just a rich person."

"Aw, I don't have anything cool." he said with a pout.

"Get over it." I said. "Okay, guys. I've got pretty much everything together for tomorrow. We have to be at Mao's mausoleum in two hours so that we have any hope of getting in."

Right on time, Jak ran in. "Hey, you're early." I said with surprise.

"Well, I sensed a pep talk, so I came running." he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Sit down, Jak."

He obliged and I got serious once again. "This is the thing that we have been training for the entire time that we've been Will and Wall." I paused. I had thought of something that made me want to curl up in a ball and cry. "This is really dangerous. If we aren't careful," I took a ragged breath. "Some of us might not go back home.

I really think that we can do this. I thought about it and had an epiphany. I think that the purposely sent our team to China. Think about it. China is known for its schooling and scholars. Russia is known for being tough and physical. I think they sent us here because we're smart, real smart. We aren't as physically strong as the Red team, but we're every bit as smart if not more. We can beat this guys. I know we can."

I looked at the group with a new confidence I hadn't had a minute ago. "We can win this."

"Hell yeah we can." Elmira agreed, with a fiery tone in her voice that you don't normally hear.

"We'll make them wish that they had never messed with us." Rob said, standing up, slamming his fist into his open palm.

"Fuck yes we will!" Jak jumped up and high fived Rob.

"We will go down in history as the spies who saved America." Malcolm said, wonder thick in his voice.

I looked around proudly. We were fired up and ready to go. I looked at the clock. "Get your stuff everyone.

It's go time."

Elmira

I didn't think we were leaving so soon and I had big news. I wanted to tell Cassia privately but I guess that wasn't an option.

"We're being followed," I told the others. They all looked at me surprised.

"You always just cut to the case don't you Elmira," Malcolm said. "How do you know?"

"Because I'm a tracker," I replied. "Duh. I was trained to look for signs that people had made, leading me straight to them. They weren't very good at covering them up so either their inexperienced or trying to make us believe they are inexperienced. So I guess you could say the tracker has been tracked."

"Well that's a little ironic," Jak said.

"What is?" I asked, keeping the curiosity from my voice.

"Well just the fact that you really hate people but look for signs that lead you straight to them." I cocked an eyebrow.

"I didn't say I hated people. They just bore me and I'd rather not put up with them."

"Well it doesn't make you any less weird," he joked. I smiled a little and flipped him off.

"Flattery will get you nowhere Jak. Anyway, know that I've said that I'll be on hyper alert I guess. We should really be going."

Cassia nodded and we left the building.