Chapter 3: Boom, You're Dead
"Trouble?" I cocked my head to the side, "What kind of trouble?"
"A couple months back, I messed with a couple people..." Noah stood up from the couch with a frustrated expression plaguing his face, "They're part of the British Mafia."
"What? Are you sure they weren't just a bunch of chavs?" I folded my arms and leant back into the couch.
He shook his head, "No they're not those wannabe gangs where kids steal and smoke a 'fag' in groups behind corner shops."
"Well then what did you do to these people that got you into trouble?"
"I was taking one of the agency's missions in England to take down some human traffickers, I ended up sneaking away the people who were kidnapped and blowing up the warehouse they were in."
"Turns out, that warehouse belonged to the British Mafia because humans were part of what they dealt," He continued, "And one of the people killed in the explosion was their second in command and part of their inner circle."
"So you're telling me, you mistook something and caused an accident so now a bunch of bloody road men are coming after you?" I said in simpler terms.
He shrugged, "I mean when you put it like that... yeah."
"I don't understand though, they're coming for you because of some weird vendetta stuff?" I stretched myself across the couch.
"I don't know how British mafia gang road men thingys think, maybe we can just offer to sort this out over tea," Noah turned to look at me, "British people like tea right?"
"Americans, the British and tea...doesn't that sound familiar?" I raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, the Boston Tea Party."
"Okay fine, how do you think we deal with this then?"
I thought for a while, "I don't really know, I haven't dealt with a lot of problems from Britain."
"I'd say, let the come to us first. We can see what we're up against, see their advantages and exploit their weaknesses." I suggested.
He nodded his head, "I agree but what if their first attack is really bad? Like 'big bad wolf blowing the third pig's brick house down in one try' bad."
I rolled my eyes at his analogy, "Then they would've already used up all their resources while we haven't wasted a smidge of ours."
***
Since it was a weekday, I went down to the training centre in HQ to sometimes volunteer as an instructor for the new agents-in-training (A.I.Ts).
After slipping on simple black gym clothes and an intimidating scowl, I marched into the gym where I found the young recruits standing in a line in front of Ace who had the same scary stance as I did.
Ace was done training to be an agent (which he had done remarkably quickly since I was his teacher and I did not fuck around those lessons) but all he had left to do was go on a real mission.
So when he wasn't busy preparing to take over his uncle's company or waiting to be given a mission, he trained the 'baby agents'.
Although, I wouldn't call them that. They'd probably disarm you before you could.
The agents we were training ranged from about 5 - 18 years old. The agency had a rule that if you were over 18, the only job you could get would be technical. They said it was because it would be too late to teach the mindset you would need to be an agent as they've lived a majority of their life without one.
Sometimes, I took Lloyd down here to try and attempt to help him improve his physical ability for spy work.
As I walked in, their eyes stayed focused on Ace who was speaking about the importance of watching your opponent. They know better than to become distracted from the task at hand.
I stood to the side. Watching Ace entice the kids into what he was saying. Up until he called out to me.
"Commander Prescott, how about we show these A.I.Ts how it's done?" He grinned at me.
I smirked back, "I couldn't think of a better idea."
Together we stood a couple of feet apart on the elevated mat. It was like a boxing ring without the ropes around the sides.
The students surrounded the edges of the fighting square where they watched excitedly, whispering about who they thought was gonna win.
Me, obviously.
"Careful now Ace," I taunted to try and get into his head, "We don't want to hurt that fragile ego of yours."
"Another way of defeating your enemy is what Commander Prescott has given an example of," His eyes follow my movements as he explains to the others, "Taunting, an easy way of psyching out your opposer."
By now, we were circling each other, our arms raised in the usual defence positions whilst bouncing back and forth so that it's easy to dodge any attacks.
The moment Ace's eyes flicker down to my feet to see where I would move next, I went straight for a jab to his throat.
"That," He coughed and spluttered, "was a charming example of why it's good to watch your opponent."
"You might wanna focus on what she's doing rather than what she's saying," One of the students suggested cheekily.
Ace snarled at the student.
Using that as another opportunity, I swing my fist to right hook his face but this time he was ready. He grabbed my fist, ducked under my arm and twisted it behind my back.
I hissed at the pain and hunched over in response. In my new position, Ace brought his knee up and slammed it repeatedly into my stomach.
Frustrated, I hooked my elbow on the underside of his knee as he came up to hit me again and pulled it forward. He lost his balance and fell forward whilst letting go of his grip on my arm.
I span around quickly, kneeled over his torso and placed my forearm over his throat.
"Boom, you're dead," I grinned mischievously as I drew a line across his neck with my thumb.
The agent initiates praised me on my victory while I helped Ace stand up.
Ace coughed, "Anyone who says I didn't win against her will be made to do 100 burpees."
The praise from the students did not sway to his side though, the threat going over their heads. Just like how I coached them not to give into enemy threats.
"I taught them well." I proud smile stretched over my face.
"Yeah whatever," Ace grumbled, "Now each of you find a partner and find a space on the mats, you're going to spar each other using your new found knowledge."
For the next few hours, I wondered and studied each pair, giving them tips on their attacks or telling them techniques on defence. After finishing up on combat, I instructed them on the different types of firearms that could be used on missions.
"Nice job today guys," I waved them out, "Keep up the good work for tomorrow."
As the last A.I.T left the training centre, I turned and faced Ace who was standing there with his arms crossed and a glare on his face.
"What?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I want a rematch for the fight earlier," He demanded.
"Sorry Ace," I sighed, "It's just going to end the same way it does every time."
The corner of my mouth lifted, "With me winning."
Mouth puckered and muscles bulging, Ace charged at me and within a second has thrown me over his shoulder as he carried us out of the gym.
Although despite the thrashing around and protesting, I couldn't help the grin growing on my face.
***
That evening, when we got home, I sat in the kitchen eating dinner with Ace sat opposite me.
"I meant to ask earlier but how was your talk with Noah?" Ace asked after scoffing down a forkful of spaghetti.
I swallowed the food in my mouth before answering, "It was okay I guess, it turns out he got in trouble with some people from Great Britain."
"Well, at least that wasn't the worst thing that could've happened." He joked.
"But that's the thing, Ace," The mood suddenly changed, "He didn't come back for me, the little sister he left behind. No, he came because he wanted something from me. He needs the help that I could give him."
Ace set his fork down, acknowledging the change from a playful atmosphere.
"Nowadays it feels like everyone always wants something from me, like their using me for their own benefit...even my own brother," I stared down at the food in front of me, losing my appetite, "It seems like the only person who doesn't want anything from me, is you."
"That's because when I was the 'President's son', you never wanted anything from me except my love," Ace reached over and clasped my hand in his, "Even if you were assigned to protect me at first, you never used me for my power, my money or my popularity. You were one of the people who liked me for me and not my dad's wealth."
A warm feeling spread through me as I kissed our intertwined hands, "I love you, did you know that?"
"Hmm?" He leaned closer, "I didn't quite hear that, say it again?"
"I love you, you weird ass pop tart obsessed jock," I teased before pulling him into a kiss, my hand wrapped at the back of his neck.
He rested his forehead against mine, "I love you too, badass stalker unusually smart cupcake."
Our little banter was interrupted with someone rapidly knocking on our door. With a confused expression, I glanced at Ace who was as bewildered as I was. The knocking turned into slamming and soon after a familiar voice shouted through the door.
"Luna? Ace? Open this door now! It's urgent!" He pleaded.
Rushing over, I whipped open the door, "Noah, what's going on?"
He stood on the other side of the door breathing heavily with blood rushing up to his pale face. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Pushing forward, he scrambled into my kitchen and checked his surroundings.
"You need to get out of this apartment right now."
I faced Ace and we silently agreed to go, neither of us questioning him.
But before we could even make in out of the kitchen, there was a loud ringing explosion followed by all the windows shattering.
Instinctively, all of us ducked down with our hands covering our heads as a shield from the shards of glass that was raining over us. Once I couldn't feel the glass shards anymore, I glanced up through the windows to see three men dressed in black, scaling down a rope from the top of the building.
I focused more importantly on what they had in their grasp, guns.
"Take cover!" I yelled as a warning.
Ace and Noah acted instantly, flipping over the thick custom made Australian Buloke wood table as their temporary shield. Rolling to the side, I ducked behind the side of a cabinet just as a bullet hit the space I just moved from.
I could hear the sound of the intruders detaching themselves from the zip line. I quickly signalled to Noah and Ace with both my hands. Holding up 3 fingers on each hand, I merged them together to form an X.
We're attacking one each.
The sound of their footsteps crunching on the broken glass inched closer.
I mouthed to them, "Three," "Two, "One."
Sliding upwards, I reached for the glass on top of the cabinet and slammed it against my attacker's head only to find he was wearing a helmet.
Using their disorientation to my advantage, I knocked the gun out of their hands and swept my leg under their feet leading to them falling on the floor. As I dived over the intruder, I yanked off their helmet and threw it in the direction of Ace and Noah's opponents.
I scrambled to my feet to find my attacker doing the same. Without the helmet on, I saw he was a young man. He had dark skin, black hair and warm eyes with a hint of stubble growing across his cheeks.
He had a peculiar grin on his face which revealed his dimples and perfectly straight white teeth.
"Surprise," He smirked and from what U heard, he had an english accent.
I scowled at him before picking up a knife from the sink and holding it out in front of me. The young man in from of me cocked is head in amusement then began ducking out of the way as I slashed my weapon towards him.
I knew better than to become frustrated with my misses because than would lead to impulsive actions so I kept aiming with my decisive movements until I managed to slice a cut on his upper arm.
He grunted in response, my success seemed to motivate him to try and beat me. It happened to work as he caught my wrist when I attempted to cut him again.
Suddenly a creak caught both of our attention to spot Ace and Noah trying to sneak up on the mysteriously skilled man. I peered over and saw they managed to knock unconscious their targets.
I almost pouted because I hadn't taken out mine yet.
I was pulled abruptly from my childish antics when the man pulled me over, moved his hand up to cover mine on the knife and held it against my neck, pressing down hard enough not to draw blood but to make it harder for me to breathe.
Noah and Ace paused the second they saw the situation.
"I suggest you step back if you want this pretty little thing to stay alive," Him speaking confirmed my assumption of him being english from his accents.
He dragged me back with him towards the window and I knew that was how he was going to make his escape.
I could see Ace trying to formulate a plan in his head of how he was going to try and get me out of this situation without getting me hurt.
But to all of our surprise, the man quickly let me go and took off down the rope that was still dangling outside the window.
Gasping for air, I whipped around and ran to the window. I looked down only to find an empty street and the rope swinging slightly.
"Ugh!" I let out a frustrated scream and ran a hand through my hair.
Ace came up to me checking for any injuries, "Your neck."
"It's not that bad," I pushed his hand away, dismissively.
Standing in the middle of our mess of a kitchen, Noah was frozen while his eyes were trained on the open air behind me.
"You know who and what that was, right?" Noah spoke slowly.
I nodded my head, "The British Mafia."
"What was that?" Ace exclaimed.
"That was confirmation." I once again stared at the swinging rope outside our window.
"They're coming for us."
***
a/n: yeah that's right bitch, a new character has been introduced and yeah he's got a sexy mf accent if you haven't already noticed.
even though i live in england and we don't really have those posh boys....only road men *cough cough*
moving on...
q: who do you think this new character is???
i think i might start ending my chapters with the word i used as my bio name:
empower <3
- kirsten xx