Code Name: Draconis [Ace Draconis - ON HOLD; see my updated profile for info!]

Chapter 15: The Doubt Sprouts

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Ace:

"Ace?...Ace...can someone nudge Ace for me?"

I awoke to a sharp poke in the ribs from the kid beside me.

"Ace, were you sleeping?"

If looks could kill, the one I gave the kid beside me would have, "uhh, no. Of course not."

"That's what I thought. I know you're a good student, so I'll let it slide this time. Now, turn to page 54 in your textbook please."

Nodding, I flipped to the page. So far, second semester was going well...except for this class. Weight Training. Now, you'd think it'd be all fun and active, right? Wrong, we're stuck in some two week unit about drug and alcohol abuse, a new component to all physical education classes. Lame!

This semester I have chemistry first period with Clarissa, weight lifting second period, followed by lunch. After lunch I end with math. Since I have a spare fifth period, I normally leave early, or sit in the library and finish any extra work I have for the night. I made honours last semester too, even though I didn't think that was possible. Clarissa says this semester should be even easier since I have a spare.

"Ace!"

I looked up, startled, "Yeah?"

My teacher, Mr. Ellis held up the phone "You've got a call from the office. Some guy wants to see you, your uncle John or something?"

"Uncle...John?" I blinked.

"That's what I said. He's in the office. You feeling okay buddy?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"Fine. Thanks," I said, getting up. I grabbed my bag, seeing how class would be ending soon anyway. I walked to the office, where the secretary told me my "uncle" was waiting outside for me. I stepped out of the building, and saw a sleek black car with the windows partially rolled down. The sunbeams danced across its sleek surface, nearly blinding me.

"Ace, over here. Get in, we're going for a ride," John called, waving me over to his car.

I got in, and buckled my seat belt as his car purred to life and slowly rolled away from the school. I watched people and various trees fly by as a thought came to mind. We stopped at a red light and I decided it was finally time to break the silence and ask what'd been troubling me.

"Why didn't you just call me on the Z-Phone like you usually do?"

John tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. It was obvious something was wrong because he didn't answer right away. He glanced impatiently at his watch, and finally spoke without looking at me.

"It would seem a hacker may have broken into our online records. I didn't want to risk providing him or her with any additional information."

I sat there, dumbfounded, "But you guys work for the government, how could anyone breech the system?"

The light finally changed, and John hit the gas. "I have no idea. Our computer specialists feel it must be someone within the system. Possibly within our own department, where they'd have greater access to our records and wouldn't be asked questions if they were on one of our computers after hours."

"So in other words, you're telling me your records of me might be at risk. Basically, someone might know what I am."

It took a few moments before John gave me a small nod of acknowledgement and I saw his grip tighten slightly on the wheel. We didn't really seem to be going anywhere in particular, just looping around the school.

"Are my records alright? Can you tell if someone took them?"

He shook his head. "I'll let you know as soon as we determine what's been breeched. This isn't all I wanted to talk to you about though."

I sighed, and leaned back against my seat and looked out the window, not really seeing anything but the blur of city life. So someone might know what I was. What would that mean? I'd have to move again of course. I'd done it so often; it wasn't really a big deal. Of course, I'd have to talk to Borgos as soon as I got home, tell him to be ready to leave. He usually was. It wasn't hard for us, we never let ourselves get too attached to people anyway...Except this time I'd made a wonderful mistake named Clarissa. I turned away from the window.

"What I wanted to tell you, Ace. Is that we've located the second last crystal. We'll manage all your schoolwork and send the regular explained absence notes to your teachers of course. But this time we're reluctant to send you alone."

I sat up a bit, "What do you mean? You always send me alone. And you told me that you didn't want to send anyone else, because the environment was too hazardous."

John nodded as we turned onto the street leading back to my school, "True, but this time we're worried you may not be able to handle it alone, and we're willing to risk it to obtain the second last crystal, which George claims is brown."

"You guys said the purple one's air, the orange one was fire, and the blue one was water. So I figure the brown one's Earth or something...wouldn't that just be a forest? What's so dangerous about that?" I wondered aloud.

"The dangerous thing about it is that we made the discovery of the brown crystal a few days before our records were hacked. Which means that the hacker-"

I groaned, finishing his thoughts, "-knows where I'm going."

"Precisely," John said, "Although we doubt the hacker would have the resources to harm you, we're not going to assume anything. Plus, he or she may have read up on the energy these crystals provide, and try and steal the brown one from us."

"I still don't see why this means I need a partner," I mumbled.

"What it means, is that this mission will be your hardest yet, as some of our

equipment isn't working the way it should thanks to the viruses the hacker installed, and now it's a race against whoever this hacker is to get the green crystal, should they go after it. You leave tomorrow." John finished, pulling into the school's parking lot, "Meet us at the forest like you normally do at dawn."

I unbuckled my seatbelt and began to get out of the car. I was just about to shut the door when I caught the look on John's face.

"There's something you're leaving out," I stated, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"We only have one person who would stand a remote chance of helping you on this mission, Ace."

"Yeah, George. Who else knows the equipment that well?"

He shook his head, "George has to stay behind to help us clear out the viruses and manage the equipment from here."

"Well, then who am I going with?" I asked. I was getting impatient.

John finally turned to look at me, and suddenly I knew the answer even before he said it.

"You're going with Damian."

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Author's Note:

Hey guys, I'm *So* sorry for the wait all these months! I've finally gotten it together and uploaded. I've got a pretty good idea for the next chapter, but as usual, if you have any ideas, please let me know! Sorry again, and thanks so much for your support!