This picture is what Rio looks like at night.
Airplane headed to Rio
May 16
1400 (2:00 PM)
Ben POV
Surprisingly, the rest of the plane ride went smoothly. Due to previous events, I had decided that going on a plane was a living beacon for Spyder attacks. It was a little hard to relax when I half expected Spyder Agents to burst through one of the plane's doors, but I made it through. Erica didn't come down for lunch, so Zoe brought food to Erica's room. I heard Zoe trying to talk to Erica, but when Zoe came back she looked frightened, so I guessed Erica had blackmailed her. The rest of the plane ride was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. After that period of uncomfortable silence, our plane landed. Zoe and Mike were the first to exit. I was supposed to follow them, but then I had another idea. I turned to Raven, who was behind me and asked her a question.
"Hey Raven, could I wait for Erica to come?" I asked her.
"Call me Natalya, and yes, you may wait for Ms. Hale to come," she said, stepping in front of me and exiting the plane. Five minutes later, Erica came down. Or at least, it was someone with the same height and build. I couldn't see her face, because she was wearing a hoodie covering her face. She walked right past me, and out the doors. As she went by, I considered tapping her on the shoulder and asking what was wrong, but considering what she had done to Zoe, I decided against it. I just shook my head and followed behind her. As I stepped out of the plane, I was greeted by a gust of warm air. Wow, it's humid here! I looked around and realized there was forest everywhere. There was a staircase attached to the plane, and I stepped down it.
"Uh, where is civilization?" I said once I reached the ground.
"You'll be in the main city of Rio in around half an hour," Raven replied immediately. I decided not to question that, but I started thinking. Right now, we were in a forest. How could we enter a major city in 30 minutes? At that thought, a black minivan rolled to a stop in front of us. At least we don't have to walk, I thought as I stepped inside the minivan. Unfortunately, I found an unwanted answer to my question. As soon as the door closed, Natalya stepped her foot on the pedal, and all that was left behind was a trail of dust. 70...80....90... the speedometer kept climbing.
"Ummm, aren't we going a bit fast?" I asked. I heard a shout and looked around. Apparently, Zoe was treating this like a roller coaster. She had her hands above her head, and she was shouting. Leave it to Zoe to always find the good in things. I looked at Mike, whos' face looked a little green. He probably ate too much on the flight. Erica was emotionless as always, but I could see a thrill, a spark, in her eyes.
"If we want to beat the daily traffic, we have to get there fast," Natalya replied, not taking her eyes off the road. I looked out the window, and I was surprised. I swear a second ago we were just in the forest. But now the scenery was quickly changing. I saw the world around me transform from a desolate forest to a large urban city. There were large, tall office buildings on the sides of the street. People wearing many different colored clothes walked on the sidewalks. I could see the Christ the Redeemer statue watching over the city in the distance. We drove for another twenty minutes and then arrived at our destination. We were at a hotel. A very big hotel. From my point of view, I counted 20 floors, but I thought that there were more.
"Everyone out of the car," Natalya said, getting out of the car. Zoe hopped out of the car, looking as cheerful as ever. Erica followed with her unemotional face on. Then I stepped out, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the blinding light. Lastly, Mike stumbled out, looking completely traumatized. We checked in to the hotel. Turns out that this place was very booked up, so we had to share rooms. I was sharing a room with Mike, while Erica was sharing a room with Zoe. Natalya would have a room to herself.
"You have till 4 o'clock to unpack and freshen up, and then we will meet in Zoe's room to discuss the mission," Natalya said, handing all of us our room keycards. Luckily, all of us were on the 9th floor. As I opened the door to my room, I was impressed. The room had two large beds, a sofa and tv, and even a kitchen! Once again, Mike pushed past me and flopped onto the pillow. Some things never change. After I had gotten a good look around, I unpacked. I placed my alarm clock on the side of the bed, along with my picture of Jessica. After that, I quickly took a shower. That was all. I was ready. At 4 o'clock sharp, I headed to Zoe's room. When I knocked on the door, Zoe opened immediately.
"How do you have so much energy?" I asked her.
"That's what I want to know," Mike said, walking through the door.
"Now we just have to wait for Raven," Erica said.
"I'm right here," Natalya said, appearing beside Erica. Mike and I both shouted, Zoe's jaw dropped, and Erica just raised an eyebrow.
"Please close your mouths and sit down," Raven ordered. After we had all sat down, Natalya started talking.
"Operation Stealthy Tiger will commence the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow will be reserved for training. You will all report to my room at 0600 hours sharp. We will train for an hour and then have breakfast. We will train again until 1200 hours. Then we will meet the MI6 Operative, and have lunch. The rest of the day is your free time. You can catch up, sightsee, or just relax. We do each have kitchens, so we're going to take advantage of that. Breakfast and lunch every day will be made by me, but dinner will be made by each of you. Every day there will be a different person cooking, depending on who the wheel of choice picks," Natalya said, pointing towards a wheel on the wall. Natalya spun in so hard that I couldn't even see the writing on it. Slowly by slowly, it started to slow down, until...
"And today's dinner will be made by... Zoe!" Natalya announced.
"At least I can count on good food today!" Mike exclaimed, and Zoe blushed.
"Wait, how do you know Zoe makes good food?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Mike immediately blushed, and tucked his head into his knees, leaving the question unanswered. I caught Erica covering her mouth the holdback laughter.
She looked at me, and said," I ship it."
I nodded, and said, "I do too. But didn't we always?" Erica nodded, and I noticed she was finally acting like her normal self again. For now at least.
"Anyways, what will you make for dinner, Zoe?" I asked her.
"It's a secret," Zoe replied.
"Well then, that's all for today," Natalya finished. Everyone nodded, but I yawned. Everyone stared at me, and I blushed, realizing how rude that must have sounded.
"Sorry, I..." I started, but I was interrupted by Natalya.
"Don't worry about it, it's probably because you didn't sleep enough because of those nightmares last night," Natalya said, nodding her head.
"Exa...Wait, how did you know that?" I asked her.
"I'm a spy, too. It's my job to know things," Natalya said, quoting the words of the famous Erica Hale.
"If there are no more questions, you may go back into your rooms and relax for the next few hours. Zoe, we will meet in your room at 7 o'clock sharp." Natalya finished. Mike and I nodded, and got up and left. I needed a drink, so I asked Mike if he wanted anything from the vending machine and headed in that direction. A few minutes later, I came back with two Fantas, one for Mike and one for me. When I entered the room again, Mike was sitting on the sofa, browsing through Netflix shows. I handed him his drank and plopped down next to him. After watching a few episodes of The Flash, I was bored.
"Hey Mike, want to play Truth or Dare?" I asked him.
"Sure, but only one round," Mike said, turning off the television.
"Okay. Mike, Truth or Dare?" I asked him.
"Dare," Mike said confidently.
"Okay then. You can't tell anyone else about this dare till the end of dinner, but every time Zoe says your name from the time we enter her room, to the time we leave, you have to hug her for 10 seconds at the end of dinner. So if she says your name 2 times, then you have to hug her for 20 seconds." I said, holding back a laugh. Mike blushed but nodded.
"Okay, then Ben, time for revenge. Truth or Dare?" Mike asked me.
"I know I'm going to regret this, but dare," I said. Mike looked surprised but came up with another one almost immediately.
"From the start of dinner till the end of dinner, whenever you talk you have to use at least one reference from the Percy Jackson or Harry Potter series," Mike said, grinning maliciously.
"Oh, this is going to be an interesting dinner," I said. For the next few hours, we did a combination of binge-watching T.V shows, reading, and playing videogames. At 6:55 PM, Mike and I headed to Zoe's room. When I knocked on the door, Erica opened it for us. She was wearing a Hello Kitty sweatshirt.
"I'd never have thought that the Erica Hale would wear a Hello Kitty sweatshirt!" I said, smiling. She blushed but opened the door a bit more so that we could get in.
As we walked through the door, Mike reminded me, "Percy Jackson reference." I nodded and continued walking. From the kitchen, I smelt melted cheese and tomato sauce.
"Hey Zoe, are we having some dam (I got so happy writing this) pizza?" I asked.
"Nope," was her reply.
"By the way, ickle Mike's here too!" I shouted, smirking. Mike slapped me on the shoulder. At that moment, Zoe walked out. She was wearing a cooking apron, and her hair was tied in a ponytail.
"Hey Mike, how are you?" Zoe asked, smiling.
"Good," I heard him mumble.
"What was that Mike?" Zoe asked, confused.
"Oh, sorry I mumbled. I said I was fine. How are you?" Mike asked. Nice Recovery.
"I'm good, thank you," Zoe said politely.
"By the way, why did you say dam and ickle?" Zoe asked me.
"It was a dam dare," I said.
"Oh, that makes sense. Well, go sit down at the table. The food will be ready in 5 minutes." Zoe said, hurrying back into the kitchen. Mike and I sat down at the table, where Raven and the others were already waiting. Five minutes later, Zoe came back with plates and utensils. As Zoe, brought out the dish, I smiled.
"Enchiladas! My pal Grover would love those!" I said.
The others were staring at me again, so I said, "It's a dare." They nodded, and we all started to eat.
"Wow Zoe, I didn't know you could cook!" I complimented. She blushed and said thanked me. Around half-an-hour later, we were all stuffed.
"Hey Mike, could you help me clean the dishes?" Zoe shouted from the kitchen. Mike went into the kitchen to help Zoe. Erica, Natalya, and I talked about the mission, and who the MI6 Operation might be.
"It's probably Sarah or Catherine," I said.
"Who's Sarah?" Zoe said, coming back from the kitchen.
"Oh, Sarah's my mom, who happens to be an MI6 agent," I replied.
"Wow. Amazing!" Zoe said, sitting down. We chatted a bit more until Natalya told us it was time to go back to our rooms.
"Wait. Before we go Mike has to do something." I said, reminding Mike.
"Wait, Ben, was it 3 times or 4 times?" Mike asked me.
"3 dam times," I replied. Mike nodded and stood up.
"Sorry Zoe," Mike said, and then he hugged her. I kept count on my watch. The hug was quite awkward, and it would have probably won the Most Robotic Hug Award if there was such a thing.
"Annnnd, dam 30," I said. Mike stopped hugging Zoe.
"Are you going to explain?" Zoe asked.
"Oh yeah. Mike dared me to use dam Percy Jackson or Harry Potter references for the whole dinner, time, and I dared him that every time you said his name he had to hug you for 10 seconds each time." I said, explaining.
"Ohh. That makes sense." Zoe said nodding.
"Anyways, we should go. Good night!" Mike said.
"Yeah, same!" I said. We all said good night, and then Mike and I headed back into our rooms. I was so tired, that I just changed and plopped on to the bed. The bed was so soft, and I was so exhausted, that I fell asleep in less than a minute.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
- Cookie