Secrets

Festivities Cut Short

"But to kill himself?! It doesn't make sense! We knew him, he was our friend. And to try to kill us, then commit suicide?! I don't get it." Carlee tries to make sense of the situation.

"We don't have time now, I have to find Thornton, and I need you to make up a cover story, and fast, to tell those kids who don't know about Pheonix. The rumors are probably spreading like mad." I try to focus her energy on the task at hand. "Ci, I need you to calm down and keep it together. As an agent work comes first, and panic second."

"Ok. Ok. Um, how about this, we were dramatizing the whole battle to make it an event. We staged a fake death scene to get full credit on a cinematography class one student was taking. ?" Carlee asks.

"Brilliant, now it's all about delivery. That was fast by the way, nice work. You kust have to make it seem like--" I'm cut off as Carlee explains, "I'm a seasoned actress Captain, it may not be on my record but I starred, under an alias, in the films Karate Girl, and Here. I did all my own stunts."

"Of course you did. Now get going." I say, straight faced. I run off, trying to contact Thornton. After searching ten minutes more with no luck I finally get a ragged signal. "Here, under the tree. I see you." It's patchy but it's there. Finally I see him, Thornton sits under a tree nursing a wounded leg.

"Commander! What happened?!" I ask. He straightens the leg as he explains how Dilan shot him and then left him for dead. As he talks he indicates the bullet wound and the hole in his armor.

He bends the leg, about to rise-- a thud sounds as I tackle him to the ground, knocking a gun from his hand and pin him. "What're you doing?" He asks, very calmly for a liar.

"You're very calm for a liar. How long have you been doing it?" I ask. Trying to get from him information I couldn't from Dilan. He reaches for the gun and I snatch it up, with my robot strength I take out the clip and flatten the top, rendering it inoperable.

"It's not just me, there are others, in other facilities, working to the same ends. Goodbye Captain." I realize he's about to ingest his cyanide capsule, hidden in his back molar. I punch him in the face and grab hos throat, he chokes on the broken tooth fragments and spits involuntarily. I catch the capsule as it flies from his mouth and crush it. Radioing base they come to retrieve him.

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"So what've you learned?" I ask Lamarr, who administered the truth juice.

"Honestly, not much. Just that he and Dilan workes for a man called the Seer. Apparently he's some sort of clairvoyant who can, predict the future."

"Do we believe him? That someone can see the future before it happens?"

"I don't know. All I know is that we need some idea of where this Seer is. And a new leader to send us on a mission to take him down. Apparently they've only been acquainted for a few weeks, Thornton and the Seer. Which means that his choice of successor should still be valid. We just need to look at his files and find it." Lamarr explains. I immediately search Thornton's database in my android head and come up with a lock. A five digit passcode.

"No good. It's locked." I say.

"Actually there is a way to bypass the security." Lamarr pauses. "You could hack it."

"Hack it? I wouldn't know where to start." I'm incredulous.

"You don't have to know. You're amazing mind can do it for you. In that head of yours is as much power as the worlds largest super computer twice over. You just need to unlock it. It's like having the force, but with technology." Lamarr gets excited, "Just concentrate on hacking, nothing specific just doing it, and it should get done."

I take his advice and a stream of green numbers flows before my eyes. I close them in order to see more clearly. Suddenly the code makes itself apparent. 93674.

I enter the code and gain access. "I'm in." In no time I find the file and open it. Reading aloud I say, "In the event that I become unable to lead, Agent Percey Fulmoth shall stand in my place." There's more but it's irrelevant.

"I'd better go tell her." I say, confused.

"But this is unprecedented, a commander, under the age of 30? Is that even legal?!" Lamarr is ready to protest.

"I'll go tell her." I say. Slowly and firmly this time. Pausing between each word. And march off.

I arrive at her door and knock. Almost immediately I'm welcomed in. Well, relatively speaking. "What do you want?"

"I come bearing good tidings." I assure her, overdramatically.

"Yeah?"

"Indeed. You, are to be the new commander. According to the wishes of Thornton himself, prior to his fall." I explain.

"He wants me to be the new big cheese!? Really?!" Excitement creeps into her voice. And by 'creeps', I mean 'appears-quite suddenly-with-much-vigor'.

"Indeed. You now have a real office. It'll need to be thoroughly searched by an internal affairs team before you can move your things in however I trust you won't mind." I say, unwavering.

Percey continues to blubber about how cool it is and that they really want someone else, who's more qualified. Amd I tell her that she'll do just fine. Repeatedly.

Now it's time for our next op. But that's another story.