Agent Stonecold

7.)The "house"

We have arrived in London. The bad weather was not a myth after all, because it rained so hard that you could not even see the airport building from the plane.

"Nice here," James said. "Where's the umbrella?" He looked at the pilot expectantly.

He just laughed. "You guys are the super agents here. You can take a little rain, can't you?"

James was about to say something back, which probably wouldn't have been very nice, but I was already pulling him down the stairs. "Behave yourself, James. They all still think we're arrogant kids. We want to be taken seriously, don't we?"

Emily nodded in agreement. "We don't want to have to go back home on the first day. We have to be careful what we do."

"Where's the fun in that?" muttered James to himself. I pretended not to hear him and kept walking. The rain soaked my clothes and I got cold. Hopefully we could change and shower before we got to the important people. I didn't want us to look like amateurs.

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We sat in the limosine that took us to our house. Yes, we got our own house. In the house would be all the important things like weapons and headsets or maps and costumes. each of us had our own costumes. by costumes, i don't mean disguises, but our clothes that we would wear in the field. In my case, it was all kinds of branded clothes.

"Hannah!"

I turned away from the window and looked at James. "What is it?"

"Do you think they'll like us?"

I looked at James, somewhat uncomprehending. "Who?"

"The players and the coaching team. I don't want to make a bad impression. We want to be popular and we want them to trust us."

I sighed. "They'll like us, and if they don't, it doesn't matter. We're here to protect them, not make friends."

James nodded and I turned back to the window.

The streets of London were illuminated by the streetlights and I was overcome by a feeling of calm. We would manage that. We were professionals. We were trained for this. Nothing could go wrong.

It was already 2am when we arrived at our house. All three of us were tired and just wanted to go to bed. We got out of the limo and I looked over at the house.

 I had to look twice. To call it a house was an understatement.

This was not a house, but a whole villa. The darkened windows were huge and I had to put my neck far back to see the tip of the roof.

"So I don't know what it's like here in England, but as an American, I wouldn't necessarily call that a house.", said James.

Emily and I nodded.

Then we heard a laugh from the front door. In the doorway stood a woman, about forty years old. She was wearing a black suit and her posture looked quite intimidating. She smiled slightly and came over to us on her VERY high heels.

"They don't call this a house in England either, Mr. Johnson. We just wanted to have the best circumstances for your mission. And this is part of that.", the woman said and smiled.

"No offense or anything, but who are you?", said Emily.

The woman laughed again. "Excuse me. I'm Agent Brown. I've been sent here by the British government to answer any questions you may have, but I believe my colleague Agent Mueller has already explained things to you. I am also your point of contact during your time here."

I nodded. Of course we'd get another babysitter. They would never leave us alone. Politicians had no trust.

"Shall we go inside?" Mrs Brown asked us.

We nodded and followed her through the large front door into the entrance area. I looked round. The floor was made of white marble and was incredibly clean. I could even recognise my reflection in it a little. The walls were also white and had pictures of different landscapes on them. You could be forgiven for thinking you were standing in a gallery. 

Straight ahead of me were two large staircases covered with black carpets that led to the next floor. Between the stairs was another large sliding door, also white, which was closed with a large bolt. I wouldn't find out what it was for until later. Speaking of doors, there were doors to the left and right, always between two pictures. As you would expect, the doors were also completely white.

But I discovered the most impressive thing when I looked up. A massive glass dome adorned the ceiling of the large building. As it was dark and a clear night, I could see the stars in the sky. It was beautiful.

"Wow." said Emily next to me. "This place is so cool."

I secretly agreed with her. From what I'd seen so far, it really was very posh.

"It might look nice, but it's got a lot of history. Many agents have lived in this building temporarily to help people. Governments have been spied on from here and hacker attacks have been stopped. This place is something special. And you will be the next to leave your memories and gain experience here," said Mrs Brown with a slight smile.

"Hopefully good ones." James mumbled from my right.

I looked over at him and frowned. He was right. We didn't know if it would go well. We could leave this place with a good feeling and a smile. That's what we all hoped for. But we could also leave with a guilty conscience and one less agent title.

"Come with me. I'll show you to your rooms first," said Mrs Brown.

We followed her up the stairs and along a corridor. There were pictures of landscapes on the way again. I didn't realise at the time that I should have paid more attention to the pictures. We followed her for what felt like an eternity. We walked along so many corridors that even I lost count, although my brain actually does this automatically. We were all tired from the long journey and really just wanted to go to bed to get at least a little sleep so that we could go to work early the next day.

The next moment we paused in front of a large white door. 

"This is your room for the time being, Mr Johnson. Make yourself comfortable and get some sleep. If you need anything else, just press the button next to your bed. Someone will come to you. Oh yes, and Mr Johnson? Please read the instructions for using the room first, will you? Good night."

"Instructions for use of the room? What instructions?", said James, but by then we had already moved on.

The next stop was Emily's room. Her room was only two corridors away from James. "The same applies to her, Ms Gramstein. Read the instructions carefully. We don't want anyone to get hurt here." Emily walked into her room a little scared and looked at me with wide eyes.

 I just shrugged my shoulders and followed Mrs Brown down the corridor.
We walked in comfortable silence for a while. I looked around to make sure I didn't miss a single detail. Suddenly Mrs Brown stopped in front of a spiral staircase made of glass.

"Your room will be up there," she said. "The same goes for you. You remember that, don't you? Having her poem gives you some advantages, doesn't it?"

I merely nodded. She had no idea.

I thanked her and was about to go up the stairs when I thought of another question. "Mrs Brown? When do we have to meet tomorrow? And where?"

She smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Mrs Brown. You'll be woken up. And all you have to do afterwards is follow the satnav."

"Which sat nav do you mean?" I asked, confused.

She turned to leave. "They'll find it when they read your instructions. Good night. Ms Jackson." And with that, she left.

I looked after her, confused, but turned and walked up the stairs to my new room for my first mission.