Keeper of the Lost Spies

Chapter 16/pt. 2

        Team X soon arrived at the door to the infirmary and Ro stepped up to knock on the stone door. Then the door swung open to reveal a gnome woman wearing a plain white dress. "May I help you?" She asked.

        Ro told her, "We're here to speak with the burned agent." The gnome woman opened her mouth to object and Ro added, "We have permission from Head Agent Jolie."

        The gnome woman crossed her arms, "It is one thing to say you have permission. It's another to actually have it."

        "Oh, we have it," Tolrik grinned, "You see, we're trying to extract Agent Tavis from a dangerous situation and need the burned agent's information to do it."

        The gnome woman remained unmoved. Mare growled and shoved her way to the front of the group so that she towered over the gnome woman. "Listen here. We are trying to do our job and save lives. So, if you don't move right now and let us see the burned agent so we can complete our mission, many lives will be lost." Mare leaned over the gnome woman with her hands clenched into fists, "And you will be one of them."

        The gnome woman simply raised an eyebrow, "Are you threatening me?"

        "No," Mare glared, "I'm telling you what's going to happen if you don't let us in."

        The gnome woman's eyes narrowed and before Sophie could blink, she lunged up and grabbed Mare's ear. She twisted it around and yanked Mare into the wall beside the door, pinning her in place. "I'd watch who you're threatening if I were you," The gnome woman growled. Then she released Mare and spun to face the rest of us, "No permission slip. No entry."

        Ari whispered, "I'll go get it." Then she scurried off, leaving the rest of them in a thick silence.

       The gnome woman sweetly smiled at us, "I'm Gliss by the way."

        Tolrik grinned and took that as his cue to introduce everyone. Sophie just zoned out his enthusiastic ranting and turned to see Mare sitting on the floor with her back to the wall. Sophie strode over to her and sat down next to her as Mare rubbed her ear.

        "What do you want?" Mare snapped.

        Sophie leaned her head back against the cave wall and sighed, "I get that you don't like me, and I understand. You think elves are stuffy and stuck up. But that not true." She shrugged, "Sure, I've met elves like that, but I'm not. And I think if we start over, maybe we can at least be friendly to each other."

        Sophie glanced over to find Mare scowling at her, "You don't get it. I know not all elves are like that, but that's not why I hate you."

        "Then why?" Sophie questioned.

        Mare glared at the floor, "After I learned about how big our world actually is, I was transferred to a multi-species training base. There, I trained hard. But no matter how hard I trained, elves were stronger, smarter, and faster. Though there was one thing I was better at than elves. I could ignore all my guilt," Mare paused, "And kill. That was the only reason they sent me on missions. You see, Storm isn't as perfect as you think," Mare spat out, before fixing her glare on Sophie.

        "I-I..." Sophie floundered for something to say.

        Mare chuckled darkly, "I soon found the only reason Storm had human agents was to kill for them. Since elves can't kill that much without their minds breaking and any other species would stick out like a sore thumb in either human or elf world. But not humans."

        Mare turned her glare back to the floor. "Then you came along. Storm's new protégé. The strongest elf ever. The elf with brown eyes. Everyone could not stop talking about how special you were, and I bugged me." As she stood up, she furiously wove her fingers through her teal-tipped ponytail. "I mean, I train relentlessly for hours every single day. I complete every assignment Storm has given me on time or even early! I do everything they ask, and I worked so hard for everything I have. Then you come along and are just handed everything." Mare turned to glare down at Sophie. "And it infuriates me! You've probably never suffered a day in your life!"

        Sophie leaped to her feet with a glare matching Mare's own. "You think everything was just handed to me easily and I don't deserve to be here?! You think I've never suffered?! Well, newsflash! I've been kidnapped, tortured, drugged and I've watched my friends and family be kidnapped, tortured, even murdered in front of me! But as you can see, I'm still here! I'm still fighting!"

        Everyone stared at the two girls yelling at each other, "I've dove into the minds of insane elves. Lightleaped with light from stars without knowing where it led. I went into a place I knew held the most ferocious animals in existence! I've run into situations that I know are going to kill me and manage to defy DEATH ITSELF, just to save my friends butts!" Sophie growled. "So, don't think for a second that I don't deserve to be here. Because I do," Sophie's tone dropped dangerously low. Mare looked taken aback and appeared to be floundering for what to say.

        "Go Sophie," Ro smirked. "I didn't think you had that in you. But I am pleasantly surprised."

        Ari chose that moment to run back with the written permission from Jolie. "I've got... it?" She stared curiously at Sophie's glare, Ro's smirk, and everyone else's dumbstruck faces. "Did I miss something?" She questioned.

        "It doesn't matter." Sophie waved of Ari's question as she stalked over to her and snatched the slip of paper from her grasp. "Here." Sophie turned to toss the paper in Gliss's face before shoving open the door and marching into the infirmary.

        The infirmary was a large cave with cots everywhere and windows along the far wall. There were a few sections curtained off and nurses bustled about the room. Most of the nurses appeared to be gnomes.

        Ro quickly took the lead from Sophie and led everyone over to a specific curtained off section. She grasped the edge of the curtain and turn to face the rest of Team X. "I present to you, the burned agent." Ro pulled back the curtain and Sophie's eyes bugged out. The burned agent had severe injuries, but that did not stop Sophie from recognizing Alvar's crooked smile and familiar cobalt blue eyes.

        "Hey, Sophie." Alvar glanced over Sophie's shoulder to see Keefe's sputtering face. "And Keefe," He added. "Long time no see."