Young Writers Society

"Rose"
Mind
A neighborhood
18:00

Violet walked down the rode towards her apartment. This little suburb was getting annoying to live in. Nothing interesting. "I even have to work at a little slushy place during the day!" she thought as she turned a corner onto her street. This was going to get really old fast and she knew it. This job wasn't turning out very much the way she would have liked. "Oh well," she whispered to herself. "Might put some of my practice into action" she thought and vaulted over the fence surrounding her apartment, then slammed her door dramatically.
*sigh*
N.N. was supposed to meeting her soon, midnight, at an old warehouse. She sat down at her desk and looked at the faded paper on it.
"Might as well have some fun before hand." She turned the paper over and tapped the dot in the center 5 times. Her desk top opened up and a fantastic computer pushed it's way to the top. The sleek shiny surface stared at her, asking to be opened. This computer was the only way she could have gotten this job. Being the creator of this super-computer, Violet was more than a little proud of the accomplishments she had made with it. So winning a science fair a couple times in middle school and high school at national level wasn't much, but she had made the first model of it when she was 12, discovered the art of Parkour on it, and with it, her passion. This was the machine that asked her father for rights to fast food chains. This had helped her through college and every other school. She opened it.
[/b]PASSWORD....[/b]
Typing in her code, she looked at the sleek cover that disguised it as a normal laptop.
*sigh*
She flipped her hair and looked into the eye scanner, then watched the computer begin its thinking process. It started, then asked her a few personal questions. When the normal screen popped up, she sighed. (She did a lot of sighing.) This computer could create anything she wanted or give her anything she had put in storage as well, it had a good writing system, good gaming system, normal computer items like internet, and much much more.
"Computer, give me the 345G.U.N. new model, a burrito and some designer jeans and a normal shirt. She then walked up the neat stairs, flipping her hair as she did so. Her brown curls bounced and swung as she changed, the dispenser in her room giving her everything she requested. Then she went into her fully equipped training basement, passing by her fairly normal rest of the house. She closed her computer and turned the paper over on her desk, as if she was just looking at some unfinished homework from long ago.
The concrete walls and floor of her training room looked ever plain. Punching bags hung from the ceiling, lifelike dummies organized by skill level were next to the wall. She walked by her weights and other training items as if they were toys left out by children. Then she came to a brick wall. She sighed, then scaled it quick as a squirrel. At the top, she put her hand to the ceiling and quickly turned it at exactly a 90 degree angle. The panel above her slid away, smooth as glass. She jumped into her secret compartment of a room and checked her looks in a mirror. The panel silently closed behind her. The duplicate computer of the one at her desk was sitting out and she quickly logged onto the internet. Scanning her e-mail, she sent her father a quick one about how a new fast food place was getting on her nerves about the horrible things they were selling and such. Then she asked for the rights to it. She then shut the computer off and looked in the mirror less confidently.
"Sweety, it's show time."
Time passes
Violet felt her self designed gun in her belt before casually opening the door to the warehouse. N.N. was some where inside, how she got in would forever be a mystery. She looked around the musty old place and wrinkled her nose. It smelled of dirty socks and moth balls. Nasty. She shook her head and walked around, looking for clues. This place was supposedly a threat to Mind in some way. Apparently, it housed something of value, huge importance.
"Why here?" she whispered.
"Because this is as inconspicuous as large buildings get." said a familiarly creepy voice.
Violet turned around slowly, just in time to see N.N. turn dramatically in a dusty old armchair.
"OK......So what have you here for me, before the 'movers' come." she asked quietly.
"This." said N.N. and handed her a bunch of papers. Violet flipped through them solemnly.
"'Gotcha. I'll get right to work on it. Anything else?"
"Nope, the boss says not to get friendly with your acquaintances at work, though." N.N. smiled a nasty smile.
"Sources tell us you're getting up with 'em and all." Violet raised an eyebrow at that.
"Acting natural is all." With that, she turned on her heel (literally) and walked out of the room with her musty dusty papers. She stared suspiciously at the lines of book shelves and chairs on her way out. Leaving the seemingly haunted place, she looked back, and thought she saw an eye in the hedges nearby. She quickened her pace. Creepy. "I'll check it out later." she thought and went on with her business of walking home. The dim street lamps spooked her, which wasn't normal. She nearly ran to her apartment, where she breathed a sigh of relief. She hid the papers in one of her many hiding papers and got on the computer. E-mailing a friend real quick, then loading a report for The Boss, her work day was done. Tired, she sank back in her seat and thanked The Lord. She trudged upstairs and fell asleep, still in uniform.

Toni Lambertini
Mind
Hoover Heights
0800 Hours

The beautiful Stacey Herondark, CEO of both EyeNetworks and Data Broadcasting Company, sat up in her beautiful memory foam mattress and stretched, surveying her beautiful room in her beautiful house in her beautiful neighborhood. She climbed out of bed and strode over to her full-body mirror. “Another day, another million dollars,” she said to herself, and chuckled.

She rode her stationary bike for fifteen minutes, then arranged a carefully pressed and expensive suit on her body, tying her expensive hair into a tight bun in the back. She was lock, stock, and two smoking barrels.

She had a breakfast of croissants, and coffee that was made automatically when she pressed a little premade plastic cup into the machine. She swallowed ten vitamins, several of which were quite large and repeated to herself, “You are not a dirty, unhealthy peasant” after each one.

Refreshed, she stepped out of the door and electronically locked it behind her. Locks on doors were pointless in this hilltop gated community, but nevertheless, those who are the most successful are the most careful, or so she always said. She climbed into her small silver sports car and ignited the engine, purring out of her cul-de-sac and into the outside world.

She was in the middle of singing her heart out and drumming on the steering wheel in time with the country pop that slid from the surround sound speakers in her car when her heart sank and she missed a beat. The car had just passed the “Burger Yard 2 Miles” sign on the side of the road. It was a sign she passed by each day, that tempted her each day, that always suckled her into making a bad decision and into becoming a dirty, unhealthy peasant.

But not today! Today she would resist the wicked temptation of the fatty and delicious Slopper Burger with extra cheese and bacon-wrapped sausage and drive right on past the fast food joint. Today she was a new person, a healthy person!

Today is different! She thought as she merged onto the highway. Today is different! She thought as she waited at the stop sign at the edge of the city. Today is different! She thought as she put on her blinker and pulled into the Burger Yard parking lot, passed the waving mascots dressed in embarrassing Burger and Fry Box costumes.

When she had parked and realized what she had done, she decided it was too late to turn back. Tomorrow will be different, she thought.

But as she climbed out of the car and prepared to make a hasty Slopper run, she was confronted by the two mascots, still dressed in their ridiculous costumes.

“That her?” asked Burger,.

“Affirmative,” replied Fry.

They grabbed Stacey, clamping a hand over her mouth and pulled her into a large white van nearby in the parking lot before she could call for help. They tied her arms and legs with an extension cord and propped her against the wall of the soundproof van.

The back of the van was very crowded, seeing as the large foam costumes took up much of the free air, and oxygen was scarce.

“Here, have some fries,” said Burger, obviously a man, whose voice was very familiar to Stacey. He shoved some delicious and addictive salty fries into her mouth and saliva trickled down her chin. With difficulty she chewed and swallowed. The instant gratification and pleasure of the food almost calmed some of her fear, as she lay, unable to move or scream.

The two strenuously pulled off their costumes and were revealed to be a young, extremely beautiful woman and a slightly older dashing, confident looking man. She recognized them immediately.

“You’re the tycoons that wanted to buy my company last Wednesday,” she exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s right,” replied the woman. “Well, it turns out we’re a little less friendly in reality, and not nearly as rich. We are, however, in a much higher position than you right now.”

“Yes,” added the Burger man. “My name is Myne and this is Toni.”

The woman, Toni, gave him a hard glare that seemed to hide some kind of extremely deep attraction.

“Agent! Please don’t give our names to our captives.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“Anyway,” Toni continued, “turning back to give an apathetic stare at Stacey. We’re not prepared to offer you the same sweet deal as before. There are no other factors this time. We’re letting you keep DBC and EyeNetworks, but the profits and control of what is and isn’t aired? They belong to the Mind Organization. Our final demand is that you are the only high ranking employee that remains as of next Tuesday, and you will now work for us.”

“I won’t agree to any of that!” Stacey exclaimed. “I’m the CEO; I am a billionaire! I will not be told what to do by some peasants that work as mascots at a Burger Yard!”

The two exchanged a glance, then returned their gaze to Stacey. “Did it sound like we were asking?” the man asked rhetorically, although he didn’t seem too sure himself.

She gulped as she noticed both her captors had pistols strapped to their legs.

The woman reached behind her back as she said, “Listen, Miss Herondark. You may think you have power in situation, but it really is beyond your control, and one of our strongest allies in making this deal happen is this.”

She brought a hot, steaming quarter-pounder Slopper Burger from behind her back. It was dripping with grease and seemed to glow in the mostly dark van.

Stacey looked at it hungrily and ferociously and demandingly looked back Toni.

The only part of the agent’s face that moved was her mouth. “If you don’t cooperate with us, you’ll never eat one of these again.”

Yoshi
The Matsouka family home | evening
*

She rubbed her eyes, glaring at the black computer screen, the letters and numbers still dancing before her eyes. She was tired, more so than she liked to admit to herself - to the point of falling asleep in the bus and ending up having to walk home from across the town. To the point of not even thinking of taking the bus in that direction as well.
If someone had told her lying was so exhausting, she would’ve never believed them. But pretending she’s doing a regular job, while really being a government official, pretending she’s studying for an online course while really hacking into classified files of other government officials’, even pretending to be a whole assortment of other people for that very job, was slowly wearing her off and it was starting to show.
She sighed and slid from her chair as she heard the door closing. It meant her father was home, which meant her mother would call for dinner, which meant Momoe would enter her room to call her and then ask her to call Jun because she wouldn’t dare to do it herself. Which means I should get properly dressed.

She had just buttoned up her shirt as her little sister knocked the door open.
“Momo! What did I say about knocking?”
The girl’s smile disappeared, she turned and walked out - only to knock a few seconds later and enter again.
Yoshi hid a smile. “What is it?”
“I got the role in the school play,” Momoe grinned. “And then I was at Anna’s and her mother gave us ice cream, but don’t tell Jun because he’ll tell parents and I shouldn’t eat that before dinner..” She frowned. “Will you stay for a few days and play with me this time?”
Glancing at the mirror, Yoshi sighed silently, and stroked her sister’s hair as she stepped closer. She hated watching her siblings and parents sad - even though no one but Momoe really showed it much - and she hated spending so much time away from them, but she didn’t really have a choice. You’re doing it so they can stay safe.
“I’ll see,” she said, knowing well enough already that she won’t be able to stay. The longer she stayed, the bigger were the chances of her father realising she’s working for the same agency as him, and the bigger was the risk of Mind doing something to them. She was sure they were safe, for now, but if she slipped, just once, she could put her brother and sister in some serious danger.

She knocked on her brother’s room, with her little sister gripping her hand and eyeing the door suspiciously.
“Jun?” She peeked in as he muttered something. “Done with that assignment yet? Father is home, we’re about to have dinner.”
“I have to finish this.” He was sitting in front of his computer. As if that’s surprising. “It’s alright, I ate before.”
She entered the room, followed by Momoe, who stick her tongue out at Jun.
“Come on,” Yoshi locked her eyes on him. “You’re smart, you’re surely close to finishing it anyway, and you can edit it after you eat as well.” She looked down. “Momo, be nice.”
“But he was mean.. he yelled at me.”
“He’s busy with a lot of things,” Yoshi said calmly, smiling a bit but giving her brother a somewhat warning look. “People can come across as mean when they’re just stressed. I’m sure he didn’t mean to be.”
She opened the door again, and turned to Jun as their sister walked out.
“Try to not take it out on her,” she said silently. “I know school can be stressful and people can annoy you and she can annoy you, but she’s just a child.”
He looked like he was about to object for a moment, but then he smiled. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I’ll try.” He nodded. “Could you now leave my room, please? I should just finish this sentence.”
Yoshi mirrored his expression. “Alright. Just come down to eat something.”
*

Momoe poked a cake. “So what did you do today?”
“We had quite a tiring day at work,” father said, sounding a tad relieved to hear the topic switching from the school play, speaking more to his wife than the others. “I’m not allowed to go into many details, but I might get a promotion.”
Yoshi smiled with the rest of her family, forcing herself not to grip the fork too hard. She knew quite well why someone from her father’s division was being offered a job; because of the agents going on mission and not coming back. And she also knew in how many problems they could find themselves if her father was promoted enough to become aware of her presence there.
I can’t let that happen. The less either of them knows, the less they’re involved, and in less danger they are.
***

Gunner.
Fast Food Exports Factory
Warehouse.

Coast clear. No imminent threat present. Four escape routes. Top window- break glass. Basement hatch- inside infiltration. Front door- would probably not be a probable option. Delivery/trades garage- possible getaway vehicles.
Gunners mind had been trained to think before she even knew it. The scenery in front of her was as clear as a map, but was it to the younger agents?
"Stubyn. Shade. You are both moving in. Three minutes."
"Wait... what about you?" Interjected Shade. It was rare for Gunner to turn down the action.
"If you find anything interesting contact me. If you don't find anything interesting... contact me. Clear?"
The two nodded eagerly.
"It's not wise if we all went in there at once. They may be expecting us. The front door seems safe, it's been scanned and checked, but I advise you two split up once you get in. Plant your probes so Melody can map the interior and give you your directions from the HQ."
"Yessir." said Shade.
"Yessir" Said Stubyn.
"Yes Maam" Said Melody on the radio.
"That's, Yessir to you Milonas. Address all of your superior agents equally.
"Yessir..." cracked the radio softly.

At exactly three minutes past the word Stubyn and Shade moved. They knew exactly what to do and never to mess with what they were told. They dropped smoothly out of the black-spray painted van. With 'ice-cream' crudely scrawled across the back in white paint. Nothing was less suspicious than something that was already suspicious. If the van was immediately assumed to contain pedophiles no-one would suspect it really contained highly trained agents and high-tech equipment.
"Keep your eye on them, Milonas." Gunner said smoothly.
"Yessir."

After drinking three cartons of chocolate milk worth of waiting it hit the 25 minute mark. Even the slowest agent knew that the 25 minute mark was the maximum time without contact. Why had neither of them contacted?
"Melody what is the status? Have they contacted you yet?"
The microphone cracked. Sure the reception was bad, but this was abnormal.
"Umm.. I mean, they're registering, both alive. But neither have contacted me nor answered any response I have given them."
"Strange" Gunner said smoothly, before slurping on the straw of the chocolate milk. The stuff was directly imported. There was no way it had been tainted by Mind.
"I'm going in." Gunner informed. "Trades entrance."
Without even waiting for the yessir Gunner too slipped out of the van, pulling on a bright yellow factory workers jumpsuit over the top of her leathers. She proceeded hastily across the road, looking both ways even though the rural highway was deserted.
The trades entrance door was hanging wide open, and the rolling garage itself half open. The garage doors were big enough to fit a truck, so Gunner easily walked straight under.
A solo worker was sitting in an idle mini-crane, blasting music out of a miniature stereo. Sheets of bare plastic were flapping and blowing everywhere but everything else was neatly packed away.
"Fellow worker!" Gunner called out to him. He jumped, lifting his head in fright and throwing the crossword he was working on over the edge of the seat.
"Oh crap, oh crap oh crap" He hissed before peering over the edge of the crane.
"Oh thank goodness, I thought you were the boss coming in for inspection."
Gunner looked around herself at the empty garage and loading docks. All of the conveyor belts were still and the whole place had a very absent sensation.
"You don't seem to be doing much." Gunner noted.
"Nah" the guy said before staring around blankly.
"Is it always like this?"
"Nah, usually there are tons of people doing stuff. I just went to take a piss and when I came back it was all like this."
"Charming." Gunner stated sarcastically but level. Someone had sure packed up in a hurry.
"How long ago was this?"
"10 min."
Gunners eyes widened. Ten minutes? Nobody or nothing had left the warehouse, she was 100% sure of it. That means that these tons of people were still here. Gunner broke into a slow jog up the stainless steel stairs to the platform with the door that lead onto the main body of the building. She slid her handgun out of her belt and tapped the door with it. It swung easily open.
CRASH The entire ground vibrated and Gunner lost her footing, sliding down as the platform she was on moved outward.
She turned and saw the man in the crane, now frenzied, using the lifting device to attack her and the platform. Gunner dived outward just before the next sweep came, landing on the top of the stacks of boxes.
The boxes shifted, wobbling slightly. She was on top of a stack of hundreds of cardboard boxes. The crane went to strike again.
Gunner ran, the boxes fell out from beneath her feet behind her like a giant block building collapsing. The just had to make it to the end and leap off into the platform-less doorway.
She just had to make it before the boxes collapsed.

Kirk felt unusually at ease. For once he found he didn’t feel guilty for disobeying the boss. What he didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him. And no one was going to find out. He stood at the end of the lengthy tunnel and stared through the darkness to where he knew a discreet foot-pedal lay. Probing gently with the tip of his boot, it skimmed over a rough rubbery surface. Pedal located, he slowly and patiently applied pressure listening hard for a faint click, knowing pushing any harder than necessary would achieve nothing but locking the whole mechanism down for several minutes. Several minutes he did not intend to stand in the cold, damp and dark.

Fortunately there was a pleasing click and a man-sized hole appeared. Having slipped through into the nearly as dark corridor and refitted the plain metal sheet back in place, he stood back and expected his handy work. Perfect, he thought. Pure genius. He breathed in deliberately, drawing himself and extra inch. Flawless. The boss didn’t need to know a thing.

He didn’t need to know that Kirk had been sneaking offsite several times even though he had been commanded to remain onsite ready for any service for which he may be required. He didn’t need to know he had been doing so through a tunnel he had installed running straight from his house to the corridor outside his office when he had been updating the security system 3 years early. (Anyway who knows when it might be useful to have a secret backdoor into ADRP headquarters.) Flawless. The boss wouldn’t know a thing.

It wasn’t like he had been sneaking off to hang out with a girl, even if he wished he could. The girls just seemed to be deterred by his garbled words and obsession over anything with a motor. Although this afternoon that girl at the counter where he had gone to drop off the chlorine samples had smiled at him. AND when he had said thank you and wished her a good day, it hadn’t come out sounding like a cat with its tail stuck in a rat trap. Maybe that was the source of the tickling sensation along his palms and the heat spreading through his chest.

A near perfect day. No accidents. No clumsy mistakes. No sloppy words. And most of all no little voice whispering in the back of his head.

At least he wasn’t cliché enough to say “There is nothing that could ruin this perfect day.”

The rare inburst of smugness got to Kirk’s head. He didn’t even notice the fact that little light above the door was glowing an ominous red, signalling that someone had entered his office/workroom/lab since he had left.

However he did notice the neat piece of paper resting on his desk with four letters inscribed in all too familiar hand. K I R K. He froze in mid stride. If he had been whistling (and if he could whistle), the notes would have evaporated from this lips.
Sucking on his teeth, he lent forward quickly and scooped up the note addressed to him. As he did so, a small badge fell out, clattering loudly to the ground. He cautiously unfolded the neat square of paper and found the inside was also covered that distinctive curly writing. Gunner. God-damn, he thought. I’ve been caught good.


It read:

Kirk,
Where the hell are you? Where the hell have you been? Don’t think you are going to get away with this.
Your presence is required for a field operation*, tomorrow, 0800 hours, at target #1453 (the old patty factory). Met us by the ice-cream truck (you’ll see what I mean when you get there). Come in your usual work attire and don’t forget the badge. And whatever you do, DO NOT be late.
Gunner

*(What? Kirk had to strain his brain to remember the last time he had been on a field operation)

~

It had been his sincerest intention to be early. He had set his alarm clock the night before and placed it under pillow where he could not possibly not hear it (double negative). Unfortunately, he had not allowed for the fact his arm flopping about haphazardly during a dream involving a mob of flesh-eating ants would accidently knock his clock, accidentally turning the alarm off. So there he was, hurriedly dressed, without his badge (of course he had forgotten the badge in his rush to leave), and - he glanced at his watch, 8:33, shit – 30 minutes late, standing right in front of a smashed up black van, with the words Ice Cream carelessly painted across the back.

Strolling over, trying to look casual, Kirk knocked twice on the van door. No reply. He knocked again. No reply. He reached into his belt and drew out his automatic lock pick. The van was that old that it still needed a key to open rather than a remote. But just as he leant onto the handle so he could get closer to the lock, the door swung open, breaking his balance and sending him toppling to the floor.

Hauling himself up and checking no one had witnessed his incident, the small man peered inside. No one. They must have left without him.

Looking at the factory, he spotted the trade entrance. Smiling to himself he thought, I bet you a dollar that was where they went in. A very Gunner thing to do.

Just as he walked through the door into a factory setting, there was a big CRASH.
Kirk stood frozen in surprise because of all the things he had expected he had not expected to see Gunner leaping over piles of boxes as if she were playing hopscotch with a man in crane attacking her.

Worst of all it was clear to him that he was going to have to do something to help.

Agent Charlie sat on the crane in his denim coveralls and hard hat waiting for the signal through his earpiece. He sat with his feet hanging out the side and held a newspaper open to the crossword puzzle over his lap, concealing the sub-machine gun that lay beneath it. It had been exactly 27 minutes since he was supposed to receive the signal to position the crane in such a way to block the front entrance. The ADRP agents had entered almost half an hour ago. Something must be wrong.
But as he thought about this, his concentration slipped. In fact, it slipped so much that when he heard and unexpected call from below, he messed up big time.
"Fellow worker!" came a call from directly underneath his crane.
He jerked, startled, letting the machine gun and newspaper both slide off his lap. The weapon lodged itself in between the treads and machinery of the crane. "Oh crap, oh crap," he said uncontrollably.
It was just a female worker in a yellow jumpsuit. Weird: Mind said he would suspend all nonessential factory workers for this time of day. But she luckily hadn't seemed to see his deadly weapon drop 5 feet from his lap, probably thanks to the newspaper. Time to cover his tracks.
"Oh, uh. Oh, thank goodness, I thought you were the boss coming in for inspection."
The woman looked intelligently around, appearing to believe his concern.
"You don't seem to be doing much," the woman accused.
That's because I'm not getting my signal, lady, and I don't want to miss it talking to you, he thought, but merely said "nah" and adopted a glassy stare.
"Is it always like this?" She must be a new guy.
Time to connect with my inner worker, Charlie intoned to himself. "Nah, usually there're tuns o people doin' stuff. I just went to take a piss and when I came back it was all quiet like this." Careful though, don't say too much.
The woman muttered something with obvious disgust, then continued her interrogation. "How long ago was this?"
"10 min," he said, then mentally slapped himself. No one actually says "min!"
When he said this, the woman's eyes widened and she shot off up the platform over the boxes and flew towards the entrance, removing a pistol from her jumpsuit. A jumpsuit that looked a little too new.
"Holy crap, that's an ADRP agent," he said aloud in disbelief, and acting fast, crazily navigated the crane controls, which he had to learn quickly this morning and barely remembered. He swung the crane around and missed the agent, but managed to deliver a crushing blow to the platform she was on.
Charlie went in for a second strike, but the woman leaped off the platform with an incredible long jump, one that looked like Olympic quality, and landed on an insecure stack of cardboard boxes, which she navigated over with the dexterity and balance of a cat.
She was now out of reach of the crane arm and Charlie had to think fast. He shifted his weight to one side of the seat and reached down as far as he could, grasping for the handle of his weapon, which was still lodged right next to the treads. Just as he grabbed the metal stock, however, the seat gave out and he plummeted off the crane, landing on his right leg and hearing the snap.
When he incredulously looked back up, he saw a small man, also in mechanic's clothes holding a wrench and a few nuts and bolts over where the seat used to be screwed into the crane cockpit.
He grunted and brought the machine gun to his shoulder only to have it kicked away by the woman, who pushed the barrel of a 9mm into his nostril.
"Where is everyone?!" she shouted.

Myne Durown

I glared at the quarter-pounder with the same ardent desire that was meant to be felt by our captive. I looked between Toni and the lump of refined meat slapped between two buns and wondered if she'd let me have just a bite. I could say we'd do it as a threat, yeah we'd threat-

"-en her."

"What?" Toni looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I snapped out of my fantasy and burst in to action, quickly standing up and pulling out my pistol. Unfortunately, the small van want wasn't tall enough to support my height, so I ended up hitting it on the roof. Forgetting where I was for a second, I thought we were being attacked, and opened fire on the ceiling above me.

"Die you rebellious hornblowers!" I screamed waving my in front of me as I fell to the floor.

"MYNE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Toni screamed and I froze.

It was at this point I noticed that the hostage was screaming and the processed delicacy was missing. I lunged toward our captive and grabbed her by the collar.

"What have you done!" I yelled as she squirmed and screamed at my grip.

"Myne shut up and put your costume back on! We have to get out of here, everyone within a mile of this place probably heard that shot." Toni said, gearing up and moving to the drivers seat.

I gave the hostage one last look before I grabbed my burger suit, tossing it on. Toni started the van and we were off within seconds, hopefully not being followed, or videoed by some stupid teens hoping to get some hits on the inter-

"-webz."

"What? No- nevermind. Just watch the lady and make sure she doesn't do anything funny. I'll see if I can get us out of this mess." Toni yelled back to us.

"Yes yes, go forth and conquer we shall." I said, glaring at the hostage.

She struggled to keep eye contact, and I couldn't figure why, so I moved in closer. She squirmed a bit, maybe cause she was uncomfortable, so to ease her pain I sat next to her and stared at her instead. She let out a small noise, which I assumed was her mating call, and proudly exclaimed, "MYNE ACCEPTS."

"Shh!" Toni yelled, "Something's coming in on the radio."

I looked around and tapped on my earpiece, "Yes yes, loud and clear. One two one two equals blue. No he's not in the bag. Yes Myne will put him there."

"It looks like something's going down at a warehouse with some ADRP guys, we gotta get there A.S.A.P." Toni said.

"Mmm," I got up and inspected my pistol, making sure it was ready for combat, then turned back to the hostage before heading to my seat next to Toni, "Wait for Myne."