The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  I started to move to check on Halsey, but before I could, Tyrese and James came bursting back inside.

  “We heard screaming; what's going on?!” they shouted in unison. I wondered if they spent a few minutes rehearsing before they busted the door in. I quickly dove behind Halsey's chair. All I could think was Oh jeez, now I'm going to die. I needed a plan to get away. Maybe the darkness would give me some cover as they walked in and I could sneak around the chair back to the bar. I wasn't that far. Halsey's chair was the closest to the bar. Yeah, that would work.

  I peeked around the corner of the chair slowly, waiting for the bouncers to move. But they stood still, looking straight ahead. What were they looking at?

  Then I heard it. The sound of a door closing behind me.

  My whole body felt heavy. I turned around, moving at what felt like the speed of molasses and looked up at him. His green eyes gleamed in the darkness like an alley cat—which I'd gotten the chance to see many of recently—and they were fixed right on me, followed up by a dimly lit grin.

  “His screaming's nothing to worry about,” he said whimsically.

  “We really should be greeting our visitor.”

  35. I’m Afraid If I Sit Down, I Won’t Get Back Up

  “Have a seat, Lucy,” Damian said politely, gesturing to the red chairs in his lounge area.

  I wanted to believe it was out of defiance that I didn't move, but it could've been possible I was immobilized by fear. Let's just say I wasn't sure.

  “You broke our deal coming back to my club, you know.” he said in a sing-song tone. A shiver bounced up and down my spine like someone was using it as a xylophone. His whimsical personality was miles away from the cold and intimidating one he had with his goons moments before.

  I wanted to answer him with something gutsy, like, I had no plans to come back to this awful place until you kidnapped my friends, but for the life of me, I really just couldn't move. So I just sat there on the floor, trying not to look as pathetic as I felt.

  “I'm beginning to get annoyed.” said Damian. “The least you could do if you want to leave is cooperate. Have. A. Seat.”

  I winced on the last word, afraid he was going to grab me or something.

  Wait; I winced. That meant I could move. Although it could've also meant Damian was toying with me. Regardless, I figured it was probably in my best interest to cooperate for now. I stood up and walked to the closest red chair in the row. Instead of sitting down, however, I looked over at Dart. He rested in his chair, eyes closed and head down.

  I should've listened to him and ran. Or at least taken the gun with me instead of giving it back to Chug. That might have helped. Still, I decided I wasn't going to go along with Damian so easily.

  “It sounds like you only want me, right?” I asked. “So let my friends go and I'll cooperate.”

  Damian laughed in response, and an overwhelming shudder spread through my body. He must have using his powers of creepiness again.

  “You're really not in a spot to be making demands, but...” he shrugged and waved his hands. “I now pronounce your friends free to go.” Then he was silent as he watched them for a moment. He looked at Takao, then Halsey, and finally Dart. None of them got up and ran out of the building.

  Damian looked back at me with a small laugh.

  “You see what I mean? They're not going anywhere anyway.” He waved his hand again and I felt myself get pushed down into my seat. I turned around, and saw Tyrese and Jimmy Boy were standing on either side of me now. I must have been paying too much attention to Damian to notice.

  Damian sat down across from me, that crazy grin from his laugh stuck on his face.

  “You know, it's really a perfect opportunity that you're here now,” he said, resting his chin on his hand. “My acquaintance will be happy to see you.”

  “What does he want with me? And what the heck was he screaming for?” I asked.

  “Oh, he just stepped out for a phone call to his...” Damian gestured with his free hand to find the word. “Employer,” he decided. “As for what he wants, you'll find out in time. Soon, actually.” he chuckled to himself. I was quickly getting as angry at this guy as I was scared of him. He was just having fun right now.

  “In time? What's that supposed to mean?”

  “You know...” Damian said, leaning forward out of his chair, “...you're really not in a spot to be asking any questions either.” I scooted as far back in the chair as the space would allow, trying not to shudder again. His whole demeanor changed and he sounded ominous, like when I first walked in. “My acquaintance seems convinced that we need you,” Damian continued, “but just so you and I on the same page, we don't.”

  He stood up and waved his hand. I heard Tyrese and Jimmy Boy shuffle backwards away from my chair. Damian then slowly made his way around to the back of my chair. I tried to scoot away, for whatever good it would've done, but I didn't budge. Damian was keeping me from moving again.

  “If he weren't near-sighted, my acquaintance would realize you're not worth the trouble either. We already have your sister.”

  They had Chloe? The realization sent a blinding rage throughout my body. Blood roared in my ears. I forced my body to move with fresh power I hadn't felt a moment ago. Then I turned around and punched Damian square in the jaw, sending him flying back into his two goons!

  Okay, okay, you caught me. That didn't really happen.

  In reality, I bit down on my tongue so hard trying to get my arm to punch him that I drew blood. The metallic taste of it spread through my mouth, the pain coming along with it. It hurt, but I was pretty sure it woke me up a little—giving me a little release from his hold. Enough to yell at him, at least.

  “You have her? What have you done with her?!” I yelled furiously. I forced my body to move as much as it could, which amounted to sliding my hand down into my jacket pocket. I wrapped my hand around a paintbrush, and tried to pinch the canister to pull it out.

  “Oh, those won't work on my turf.” Damian said, mock-pity in his voice. There was no way he felt sorry for me. Maybe at how easy he thought I was to weaken.

  “I tweaked them when I had the bag brought to me. You didn't think I'd just give you your Handle back, did you? All that power?”

  “Where is my sister?! Where's Chloe?” I demanded. Damian shook his head and laughed.

  “You don’t get it, do you?”

  “What the heck is that supposed to mean?” I yelled. Then his demeanor changed again. “I despise repeating myself, Lucy, so please listen this time. You're in no place to ask questions. You're defenseless and alone. In fact...” I felt him bending over my chair until he was inches away from me. “...all we really need to deal with you is a single moment.” he whispered. I felt him put a single finger on my neck, and it started to tingle and grow cold. I realized too late that my neck was going numb. No. I couldn't go down here. Not when I was this close. But then the feeling started to spread throughout my body. No matter how much I tried to move and break free, I couldn't beat it.

  Then all of a sudden came two loud sounds:

  BANG! BANG!

  I recognized them as a sound I wished I wouldn't hear again as long as I lived. But in this moment, I was happy to hear the sound of gunshots, followed by two large thuds to the ground.

  “What?” Damian jumped away from me, startled. As soon as he took his hand off me, the numb feeling started receding. I was getting my movement back. I turned my head and saw Tyrese and Jimmy Boy out cold on the floor, Damian standing in between them. I looked over at the door we'd come in through, and standing in the doorway was Chug, aiming the gun at Damian.

  “Chug!” I said in a mix of relief and anger. “What are you—?”

  “Not now; we need to get out of here!” he shouted. I kept my eyes on Damian, who backed away as Chug walked forward with the gun.

  “Right,” I said, “but my friends...”

  “I've got them covered!” Chug said, running over to the chairs wher
e they sat, loading his gun with more bullets. He pointed the gun and shot each of them in the head.

  “What are you—?”

  “They're special bullets!” Chug the effects of the insanity bullets.” he said. An antidote for insanity...I wondered if that would work back on Earth. I made a mental note to come back to that. For now, Dart, Halsey, and Takao all started to wake up in their seats.

  “Where the heck am I?” Takao said in confusion as he stood up and looked around. Halsey groaned, rubbing the walnut-sized wound on his head. Dart looked over at me, then behind me at Damian, then over at Chug. Then he turned back to me, eerily calm. The only hint of confusion from him was a raised eyebrow.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I'll tell you later. We need to get out of here,” I told him. Dart nodded and he and Halsey stood up, running over to meet Chug by the door. Takao, still confused, did the same. I realized I was still sitting in my seat, and tried to get up, but I couldn't move. Damian grabbed me from behind, hooking one of his hands around my arm. He lifted me out of the seat and positioned me in front of himself.

  “Don't shoot now,” he said to Chug with a chuckle, “you might hit your friend. And if anyone tries to come get her, I'll kill her.”

  Dart had risen to his feet, facing my direction. Takao and Halsey still sat in their seats. Their facial expressions told me they were just now beginning to realize the current predicament. Halsey began to stand up, and I felt Damian's grip tighten.

  “Don't move!” I shouted to her. Halsey froze between standing and sitting. “Listen to what he says,” I told them. “He knows where Chloe is!”

  Damian backed up slowly to the door of his office and whispered to me.

  “It's brave that you think you're still going to save her, but you're not getting out of here.” The tingling feeling returned, numbing up my neck even faster than before. It was followed by an icy sensation drove itself through my body, making my hair stand on end. My fingers slowly curled into balled fists against my will. Quickly after, my eyelids squeezed shut.

  I tried to break free, but my body wouldn't move when I told it to. I couldn't shout or even speak.

  Then someone behind me spoke, and time slowed to a stop around me.

  36. Just When I Think It Can’t Get Worse…

  “Stand down, Damian,” said a voice behind us.

  I turned as well as I could with Damian holding me, and saw the rogue Agent standing in the doorway of Damian's office.

  “Let her go.” he said, walking out and stopping right in front of Damian. From where I was standing, I wasn't able to look up and see his face, but I could see him holding his hand on his head, like whatever that screaming was gave him a headache.

  “This wasn't the way we were instructed to do this,” the rogue Agent continued in calm, yet firm voice I knew from somewhere.

  “My apologies,” Damian said sheepishly, and then he placed me on the ground and backed away. I felt warmth start to surge back into my body, and I tried to stand, but it was still too tough. Damian's powers were taking longer to wear off than they had before.

  The rogue Agent knelt down next to me. “How are you here?” he asked. Before I could figure out what to answer, Damian cut me off. “She came for her friends, as I planned.” he said pompously. If I could've moved, I would've kicked him in the teeth for his lie—he said himself it was all convenience. I looked back at the rogue Agent, and it took a second to get my mouth to move. There were so many questions; I didn't know which one to ask first. Not to mention I wasn't exactly sure how sane this guy was, so I didn't even know if talking to him was a good idea. Last time I did, he made time slow down inside my Depression Zone.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. He chuckled—and this is going to sound weird, but—and I felt the warmth behind it. He wasn't laughing at me. Instead, it felt like he was happy to see me. (Yeah, I was definitely losing it.)

  “You really don't understand, do you?” he asked. Up close, his voice began to fill me with that painful sensation in my heart and my head and then...it stopped. I realized why his voice was doing that; I recognized it. Heck, I could almost place it. It was on the tip of my tongue...

  No, that couldn't be right. I must have been going crazy from being in De Mentoria too long. I needed to stay focused and get out of here.

  “I understand you have Chloe,” I told him, “and that you were trying to hunt me down next. Why?”

  “I—” he stopped, and started to mumble under his breath: “No...I know that...but she's right here...” Then he shook his head back and forth, his hood swaying over his face.

  “You have to come with me. It's part of the plan.” he said. My heart started to beat faster. “What plan?” Instead of answering, he started to mumble to himself again. I heard him say what I thought was “no more questions...” over and over. “What questions?” I asked him. “What do you want with me?”

  “You have to come with me!” he repeated, and then he reached for me.

  BANG! I heard the bullet whiz past above my head and ducked instinctively, and it worked. I could move.

  “You stay away from her!” Chug yelled.

  That was my chance. I should've taken it, too. It would've saved me; turning and running. Not even trying to see if it hit him or not. But I didn't run. I turned around, and the bullet must have missed him, because it succeeded in knocking the Agent's hood clean off his head. I could see his him now, and lost all chance of running.

  I saw the same fair blond hair resting down over the face covered in freckles, and the same blue eyes he'd always had. Was it really him? My heart was beating crazy fast, and I couldn't form a full thought. I just couldn't believe it.

  “Lucas?” I asked quietly, unsure of what else to say.

  “This isn't…” he said emptily, starting to back up, “…how it's supposed to be.”

  “Lucas, is that you?” I reached my hand to touch him and make sure he was real. He stood up and swung his hands at me. “No...NOOO!” He tried to step back and tripped. Then he fell back, clutching his head and screaming like he was earlier

  I moved to help him. I wasn't sure why, or what I could even do, but I moved instinctively. Before I reached him, however, Damian jumped in my way.

  “Oh, this is just grand. A family reunion.” he said. “But you really should have listened to your friends,” he shook his head at me and pointed a finger over at the lounge area. I turned to see what he was pointing at. There in the corner of the room, I watched as pieces of Tyrese and Jimmy Boy's skin crackled off and wisped into dark plumes of smoke around their bodies. “While my boys aren’t all that bright,” Damian continued, “they can certainly handle a little insanity.” As if to prove his point, they were screaming as it began but it quickly turned to deranged laughter. Damian started to laugh with them.

  “It's time to go,” Dart said behind me. Then he scooped me up from the ground by the waist and hurriedly rushed toward the door with the others. “No, wait! Put me down! That's my brother!” I yelled, bouncing up and down as Dart ran. How did he already have enough strength back to carry someone? “Lucas!” I shouted, keeping my eyes on him; doubled over behind Damian.

  All of a sudden, everything froze. Everyone stopped running, Dart included, although I was still caught in his grip. I struggled to get free, but it was no use. I might as well have been grabbed by a cement man. Damian's laughing was cut off, along with Tyrese and Jimmy Boy over to my left.

  The only one who could still move besides me was Lucas, who, with one hand on his head, stood up and walked over to me.

  “What did you mean this isn't how it's supposed to happen?” I asked with short breath. I was trying not to freak out as my used-to-be-dead brother stood 12 inches from my face. “Meet me in your final Zone alone, if you want to see Chloe.” he whispered.

  Before I could fully process what he said, Lucas was back in his doubled-over position behind Damian. Then the world resumed, and that's right about
when all hell broke loose.

  Damian’s evil laughter resumed. Tyrese and Jimmy Boy continued to morph into full-size Depression Agent murder clouds. The rest of us booked it out of the club door; myself still in Dart's grip. As the door closed behind us, my eyes held on my brother, his head buried in his knees on the floor.

  37. …It Gets A Whole Lot Worse

  As Dart and the group raced away from the club, a billion thoughts raced to the forefront of my mind. The first was: Lucas is alive, which was immediately followed by a bunch more competing for second place:

  My dead brother is alive!

  And he has Chloe!

  Why are we running away from him?!

  The rest were on their way to the surface, but were interrupted by Tyrese and Jimmy Boy behind us. They burst out of the club, breaking the rest of the windows in Depression Agent berserk-smoke mode.

  “They're right behind us!” Chug yelled somewhere to my right. “We need to pick up the pace!”

  “Lucy,” Dart shouted as he ran, “you're gonna need to run yourself. Can you move your feet without falling over?” I couldn't believe him. The first thing I wanted to do after he put me down was kick him in the shin for pulling me away from my not-dead. But behind me I heard the two bouncers tearing up streetlights, and decided maybe running was the best choice for now.

  “Just put me down!” I shouted, my voice bouncing up and down with each of Dart's steps. He dropped me, and I landed on my feet running with the rest of the group.

  “Perfect,” Chug said, “Now follow me. We're gonna turn right up here at this—”

  “Wait. Why should we trust you?” Dart objected. “You just got us lost last time.”

  “Because I just came from the restaurant,” he argued. “I remember the way. Now hurry up!” We all turned down the alleyway and kept running. I looked behind me, and I didn't see Tyrese or Jimmy Boy. (Not that I could tell two piles of smoke apart.)