CODENAME: A.D.A

Chapter 25

Darkness ......Again.

Complete darkness enveloped me until a sudden bright ray of light seeped through my closed eyes. I opened my eyes abruptly.

Immediately, I felt as if I could go blind due to the bright light. I tried to use my hand to shield my eyes but that was when I realized that I was restrained. I took a good look at my body. I was sitting on a chair with my hands restrained to the arms of it with metal bands at either side.

My legs were tied to each side of the chair with metal bands as well.

"I think we were drugged" Chen's drowsy voice said.

"Who would do this?" I asked.

"SILENCE!" a loud voice boomed.

Where did that come from?

In front of us, four holograms appeared. Each hologram was for a member of The Council.

"Hello operatives" Mr. George said.

Wait.... The Council is behind all this?

"Welcome to the exclusive part of The Conversion" hecontinued.

"You have passed the tests" Mr. Thompson said "You are fully verified and activated spies irrespective of your levels"

"I-I don't understand" I said.

"Everything was a test" he explained "Starting from the End Sara protest attacks to the torture you all received about an hour ago"

"You're going for a mission that could determine the fate of the world...or not" he said "We had to make sure you were prepared so we orchestrated the whole thing in order to know how prepared and most importantly, how loyal you were"

I was stunned and at loss for words. Flashbacks ran through my mind. Flashbacks of the protest missions, my teammates and I fighting relentlessly to save our country and the brutal torture I just received bombarded my memory. It was.... all a lie?

"So, everything was fake" Chen asked "Right from the man who wanted to bomb the protest grounds and the interviews with the terrorists?"

"Fake' is not the right term to use" Mr. Thompson answered "Take it as part of your training"

That was when I lost it.

"Training? Training?" I half-screamed "Do you hear yourselves? Do you realize how messed up this is?"

"I understand that you are upset..."

"Upset?" I shouted.

I tried to stand up in anger but the restraints stopped me.

My breathing was heavy. My head was banging and my hands were itching to punch someone in the face.

Normally, I would never behave this way but enough is enough. These people faked two missions then put us in harm's way by torturing us. Let's not forget the fact that I was attacked by Subomi today. Is that even his real name?

"You tortured us" I gritted out.

"We were testing your loyalty to the agency" Mr Thompson replied.

"You had us electrocuted! My teammates and I were knocked out twice. We could have died!"

"Everything was carefully calculated. We knew the drugs could not kill you. We were extremely careful. We just wanted to see how loy-"

"How about you? How loyal are you to us?" I interrupted him.

Silence.

"How loyal are you?" I repeated "You put us in danger repeatedly. You almost got us killed. You let us think we were heroes"

You let me think I was a hero. You let me think I actually did something worthwhile for the first time in my life. Now, I find out it was all a lie and I am actually as worthless as I thought I was.

"Ada" Mike called me "Calm down"

I tried to close my eyes in order to calm my breathing down but my chest was still rising and falling as a result of my anger. I guess I'm reacting this way because I am tired; tired of being used, tired of this exhausting lifestyle that I didn't ask for, tired of having no friends all my life and tired of not being able to tell the truth to the guy that I like.

They treat us unfairly. They don't care one bit about us. They only care about us getting the job done. They are just bothered about how well we can protect their identity. How far will they go to protect ours?

As a spy, one slip up and you're gone. You're cancelled which means you die and you get replaced immediately. After all, life goes on and someone still has to get the job done. Your life is literally meaningless to them which is why you have to protect it yourself.

I decided to keep my mouth shut. I have said enough for myself and my teammates as well.

"We tortured you because we wanted to see how well you could keep our secrets hidden even under extreme circumstances which you will face in the future. It's not something you can escape. We care deeply about all our operatives"

"We are very proud of you" Miss Amelia said "Congratulations"

"Thank you" the four of them chorused.

Why are they congratulating us? There is no reason to celebrate. We are just tied down to this agency more than ever. It is even more official now.

The restraints were removed and the doors automatically opened.

As we walked out to the corridors, the four of them chattered excitedly about how happy they were now that we're activated.

"Can you believe it guys?" Chen jumped up and down "We get to go on trips, use the latest weapons and even drive fancy cars?"

My anger had come down a little but it was still fuelling by the second when I saw how excited they were. The agency tricked us into thinking we were superheroes.

I guess I was more embarrassed than sad. I thought I was saving our country during those missions. To know people were saved because of me and to know how people cheered for me at the agency made me feel special. For once in my life, I was actually proud of myself.

Now, I know it was all a lie. It made me feel kinda stupid. Here I was, thinking I was actually doing something.

"Cheer up Ada" Victoria said "We're real spies now"

"They tricked us, you guys" I said.

"Oh, come off your bloody high horse" Chen rolled her eyes "They were just training us. Being activated has always been one of our greatest dreams"

"Think about all the cool stuff we can do now" Choi tried to convince me.

"We basically made history" Mike added "No one in the agency has been activated as teenagers. We're the youngest in history"

"We get to travel the entire world and go on top secret missions that not even the presidents know about. We can even be recruited by the CIA. Our names will be written in history" Choi told me

"We're all ecstatic" Chen said "If you're not then it's on you"

In silence, they all walked away...leaving me behind with an even sadder heart than before.