The Undergrad

by Mela NoLeuca

  *

  Since my plans backfired, seven hours ago, I only had an hour left to make a miracle out of this sticky situation I got into.

  Sitting in a van parked inside the Aerodale University's lot here with Gibbs, I was actually trying to hack into dad's troops' frequency so I can whisper in their ears without dad knowing at all.

  Its fool proof! I can already tell by my strong gut-feeling that everything will fall into plan! Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

  "Ares, not to burst your bubble here or anything," began the frail redhead to my right, "but why are you so intent to having these guys listen to you?"

  "Mhm," I nodded absently, I heard him just fine but I had to play selective deafness for now as I busy myself with letting my fingers dance across my keyboard. Just a few more digital barriers to break and...

  "I'm in!" I cheered joyously that I leaped out of my seat and twirled alone in the van. Ignoring the awkward looks Gibbs was giving me. I cleared my throat and returned his awkward look with mine, "what?"

  Quickly donning the headset, I spoke into the receiver. "Soldier, do you read me?"

  "Affirmative sir," was the majority of the response I got. Now they would only be hearing from me and not from others. That way, they'd think I was directly giving orders to the 'chosen' one.

  And thank goodness for that too since almost everyone instantly recognized my voice since I kept getting more and more responses that were like:

  "Lieutenant Ares, is that you sir?"

  "Lieutenant Ares, what are you doing sir?"

  And let's not get my favorite response:

  "Sir, not to offend you or anything, but sir, didn't the General request that you stay out of this?"

  Well for anyone's information, simply stating that you didn't wish to offend anyone doesn't make you any less of an a-hole. Gathering bits and pieces of what's left of my pride, I quickly interjected every information of my plan into their brains.

  "Are we clear, soldier?" I asked, cringing slightly with my fingers crossed. They'd better do this. They had to. I put our organization's ass on the line for crying out loud!

  "I just need the agents from ERA alive," I added quickly. And thankfully I got the response I wanted.

  "Well?" Gibbs asked, carefully watching me from his seat to my right. His big framed glasses magnified his squinty eyes and don't let me get started with his Afro. I also have no idea how a redhead ended up with an Afro.

  "Ares? Why are you smiling like that?" he asked nervously.

  "Oh I'm smiling?" I repeated, "I guess its because I thought of a little something that you could do for me,"

  "What?" his voice was barely a squeak.

  "Bring this," I carefully took out a brown bag from under my seat and handed it to him, "to this girl," I took out my phone and showed him a stolen shot of a blonde babe.

  "Is she your lover or something?" He waggled his brows at me.

  I chuckled and shook my head, "definitely something, so you in?"

  "Aigh't I'm cool with that," he said hopping to his feet and taking off his white coat so that he looked like your average skinny teen with an oversized Afro. He took the bag from me and stepped out of the van.

  "Oh wait a minute!" I barely managed to yank him by the collar, "Your hair! You gotta go incognito otherwise we're dead!"

  "Oh not the Afro, man," he sulked, but I pouted at him with these big puppy dog eyes long and hard enough until he sighed. I obviously won this round the moment he took out a tiny hair tie and began taming all that wild hair into one sleek pony tail so that all his afro was concentrated at the back of his head. It was pretty funny to look at actually.

  I mean getting used to seeing him as a big headed guy made it so hard to get accustomed to seeing how tiny his actual head was. He was absolutely nothing like his former self, which made it perfect for him to go deliver that bag!

  "I owe you one Gibbs!" I shameless grinned before he slammed the door shut.

  I waited patiently, checking out the screens to monitor any movements. I saw our men thickly garbed in their bulky uniform move so smoothly along corridors as they position themselves, students on the other hand all kept their heads down as they took their exams. Proctors on the other hand were chatting discreetly with each other, reading something or simply fell asleep.

  You can almost be easily fooled into thinking that a national licensure exam was actually taking place in the middle of a dangerous filled sprinkled with deadly men in every corner. It was too natural.

  I switched further to other screens, seeing nothing beyond normal, at this point I should be convinced enough that this was all going as planned.

  "I did the exchange,"

  I instantly recoiled at the noise that blasted through my ears. The silence that I grew accustomed to made the volume seem a tad bit higher compared to the feedback earlier.

  At one camera point of view, I caught a glimpse of Gibbs walking out of a classroom empty handed. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, I spoke into the mic, "Well done,"

  A big fat smile plastered across my face as it slowly consumed me. Now everything is going according to plan, all I need to do now is shut off the Rubrix's signature approach in the institution's radar--

  "Sir, is the job complete?"

  A lump lodged itself in my throat. The hell? I looked back at my laptop where I broke into each soldier's frequency and began mouthing steady lines of all nasty words known to mankind.

  Soon enough the confusion began flooding to my earpiece, I was panicking so much I had to yank it out of my head. I threw the earpiece to the ground and just then something was violently banging the metal door of this van so loudly that it rattled me to the bones.

  Oh for fuck's sake. What if the Colonel found out about what I've done to their communication? Oh man am I doomed.

  Or I don't have to be. I just have to play it cool and, maybe I should return the radio frequency to normal--maybe I shouldn't, should I?

  The banging grows angrier and I could feel a strange foreboding chill erupt from under my skin.

  "Just a second!" My voice barely cracks as I stumbled for the door, as I expected an angry colonel with an army of angry soldiers behind him, before me stood a sweating, panting Gibbs with pale face to greet with.

  That obviously did not look good.

  "What happened?"

  "People are dying in there," he told me mutely.

  "What?"

  "That trick you pulled with each soldier's frequency threw all of them off and people are dying in there!" He repeated with a little more hysteria in his voice, "Damn it Ares, you really did it this time!"

  Grabbing my phone from the dashboard, I slid off my coat and stumbled my way out of the van, almost blinding me the instant I stepped into broad daylight.

  "Where are you going! You're gonna get yourself killed in there!"

  He tried grabbing me like what I did to him earlier but failed miserably. Making a beeline into the institution with panic made me realize the fact that I had no gun with me. I tried talking into my earpiece to try and get to Gibbs but I forgot the fact that I had to throw it in the van out of panic.

  Damn, now I'm really doing this alone and unarmed. Okay Ares, basically, you messed you big time and now people are dying! If only they listened to your plan in the first place, no one would have to die.

  At this point I had no choice but to choose the lesser evil, that would mean trying to get to the graduating student. That's right, I can work with that.

  I began pawing my way in like an idiot, passing dead bodies that once served us. Oh boy, I knew this guy.

  "Damn Steve," I gasped, my knees buckled from the shock, this was entirely my fault, "I'm so so sorry man,"

  There he lay in a pool of blood with his lifeless eyes fixated into mine. I scrambled back in surprise, oh my god he is so going to haunt me. "Steve, listen man, I didn't mean you any harm this isn't my fault, if you guys just listened--"

  "What the hell are you doin
g?"

  Before I could scream in surprise a firm hand wraps over my mouth and I was being dragged into an empty classroom. Oh no, this is how I die!

  "Get a grip, man!"

  "Mmf?" What I obviously meant to say was 'Gibbs.'

  "Look, I don't care what you're planning to do, but just stay alive and don't do nothing stupid," he whispered, my eyes fell to what he had in his hands, two pistols.

  Instantly, he handed me one.

  "Here, hold this,"

  And so I did.

  "What are we after?"

  "Rubrix," I basically mashed my face into game-face mode, needing to play cool. I needed to stay focused if I wanted things done and stop more future damages.

  Thankfully, Gibbs didn't ask any more and followed right behind me. How he learned to move like an elite soldier, I might have to ask him sometime after this. Right now we were moving on instinct as I led the way.

  "Why don't you just check where its coordinates are--"

  "Killed it,"

  "Why?"

  I sighed exasperatedly, "long story--"

  "Dr. Portley, what are you doing here?" An unfamiliar voice crept to my side I froze over on instinct.

  "He'll be here soon enough, you managed to do the exchange?" He was a tall man with Blonde hair cut clean that matched his face well.

  I relaxed and looked at Gibbs who gave me a thumbs up. "Affirmative," I said.

  "You shouldn't be here," he told me.

  "There are some things I need to look into," I quickly said.

  "Listen carefully," he held me by the shoulder, "take us in for captives, I have already diffused the bombs in this place. I will knock myself out, hide me in the classroom straight ahead of you. Gould can't head straight yet, ERA will be there and if they meet up, things won't go as planned. There will be a time when Gould will try to kill your men, when you see him do his worst, wait for me to block him. Let me take the blow,"

  "What?"

  "Just do it, when you get the urge to kill Gould I will jump in the way and you must pull the trigger," he told me firmly.

  "Why?" I swallowed, utterly confused.

  He shook his head, "sometimes, you would be entrusted to a secret that can be a danger to everyone you love around you. Even if I lie that I know nothing, there is nothing advanced technology can't do. Do we have a deal?"

  Wordlessly I nodded.

  He winked at me once and pressed some button installed to his vest before he collapsed and spasmed on the floor.

  "Holy shit what's happening?"  Gibbs panicked.

  "Hurry into that classroom," I ordered, as he helped me drag this big man into the said room, closing the door behind him as he came back for me.

  "What the hell did you do?" he hissed, utterly in shock, "is he dead?"

  I pressed a finger to my lips and shook my head, gesturing him to hide with me in another vacant classroom. The redhead closed the door behind us and then we peeked through the tiny window and watched a strange man in a floral polo shirt.

  Was he lost or something?

  "That's the guy we're looking for," I blurted out on instinct, "here's our chance to abduct him. Stay here, no matter what."

  Quietly I stepped out of the classroom and tiptoed my way towards him as quietly as I could. When I got close enough, I hit the handle of my gun at the back of his neck in hopes of knocking him out like what Gibbs does.

  He collapsed to the ground to my relief, but then something knocked me off the ground. It took me a few seconds to realize that ERA's agent still got the upper hand as he now had a gun pointed right at me.

  I raised my hand, daring myself never to look away from his piercing, dark gaze. Breaking out in cold sweat, I have never been in this situation before, heck I was barely out in the field.

  This was the guy I was supposed to be giving a hard time. Not the other way around. At least it was good to see he was still alive.

  "Door behind you," I told him, ARC's men were out to get this guy and he would need all the help he could get. I watched him slightly waver his hold on the gun. "Another to your left down the hall, three doors down before the last," now that came into a random, but it was good enough to lead him far away from me.

  He didn't move one bit. And for a moment, I was beginning to think that this could be the end of it.

  "Agent Gould, get the hell out of there now, you barely have three minutes before the Wipe-Out!" Some quiet quiet static resonated near him, it must be an ear piece he was wearing.

  "You better hurry," I took this time as an advantage. My voice sounded just as urgent as the one from his earpiece, and soon enough, he turned to run without looking back.

  Now that he was gone, it was our turn to follow them and make sure they stayed alive. The further we walked in the building, the darker it got. Not a moment later, a girl screaming nearby caught our attention.

  This time, we have both men locked in sight.

  The moment I caught a glimpse of two men I stopped dead in my tracks, when the taller one clocked the blonde girl unconscious a cold chill scraped down my spine. Apparently none of them noticed that Gibbs and I were just gobsmacked, watching him do their dangerous deed. My heart sank the moment I realized that they won and capturing her would have meant them finally getting a hold of the Rubrix. I stood there frozen for a moment as my train of thoughts sped faster than what my brain could manage with all this stress. It seemed too real to be a thought out plan, I was beginning to question Craw's loyalty.

  "They're getting away!" I hissed frantically right out of panic, a feeble attempt to gather my senses. I could feel blood rush through every fiber of my body it was like watching an actual crime scene and here I am a civilian--no wait.

  I'm not a civilian. This all happened because of me. And if I don't do something right now--

  The next thing I knew the taller of the two grunted, staggered then fell limp.

  What the? Gibbs tore the gun from my hand and I watched him hurl at it with perfect aim right at the smaller one.

  "This is Alpha Niner Zero One, I've got--Oof!"

  That was the last thing I hear before he, too, fell down. Blinking the disbelief away from my very own eyes, I slowly turned my head to my assistant, my mouth was wide open as I watched him run towards the fallen men.

  "Hurry up!" He coaxed as he knelt down to the blonde girl, "she's still alive..." And he goes on about how the Rubrix is working well and blah blah blah.

  I honestly just couldn't believe I knocked them down! I wasn't exactly sure if that meant a good thing, well technically it was all Gibbs' fault but professionally speaking, I was still responsible for whatever action he made. Oh well, there seemed to be no other way around this right?"

  The moment I ended my story, I honestly didn't know who to look at first. To hell with that, I wanted to melt right then and there and disappear into the ground and be free of all this.

  I wasn't exactly sure what reaction I wanted to get out of this story. But it was the truth and sooner or later it was going to come out.

  A gun was pressed dangerously against my temple, I was far too distracted to let alone be cowering in fear at the moment. I know I should be since I was cornered to the wall and I'm basically at her mercy.

  "I thought we both had an agreement," she said mutely so that only the two of us could hear.

  "Oh come on! It's not like I wanted to pull the trigger!" I quickly retort, this was ridiculous.

  She was referring to five years ago when she blew me off like some bird shit on her wind shield and decided to wipe it off when she got bored of the eccentric decor. Back then I was head over heels for her, she was out on the field then and we captured her for snooping within our premises.

  That was how we met, she barely with us for a week and that was more than enough to have her keep coming back for me. Until of course her side of the schism decided to keep her out and have her be a tech geek. As if that would keep us apart.

  And then she was assigned to Craw, wh
o took her place on snooping within our premises. Later that day, she said she wanted to see me and just like that, she called us off.

  "You did anyway," I watched tears brim along the corner of her eyes, "I thought I made it clear that you keep your hands off him,"

  Clearly he didn't tell her about that little mutual agreement that he and I had. I heard her cock the gun and decided that she deserved to hear it all before I leave this Earth.

  "Craw knew," I began. I've never felt so bare in my life, from the way Ethan looked at me down to Robyn's flummoxed gaze. They were all silent for this moment of truth, and I will give them just that.

  This was a secret that had been kept from everyone.