Trent was exploding with excitement. He was finally ten, and if that wasn't enough in itself, his Uncle Ajax had promised to take him to Jowston Hill. The tousle-haired boy was doing everything in his power to keep from literally bouncing off the walls of his family's small home in Muse. It wasn't long, however, before he heard a signature knock at the door.
"Uncle Ajax!" Trent shouted, flinging open the door. Sure enough, there stood a tall, clean-shaven man decked out in State Army garb---Ajax.
"Well, look who it is. How's the birthday boy today, eh?" Ajax said with a wide grin.
"Great!" Trent said simply. His mother's voice floated over from another room.
"Ajax, is that you? You can come in..."
"Thanks, Regina." Ajax said, stepping through the doorframe. "Is Lyle in?" At that, Trent's mother Regina came into the room, wiping her hands with a dish rag. She was a brunette, not noted for any exceptional beauty, but pretty enough nonetheless. She wore a simple blue dress and an apron dotted with various stains.
"He's at work, Ajax..." Regina said. "So, how are you?"
"About the same, really...army life doesn't change much." Trent's uncle replied. He stood around for a moment, then looked down at his nephew. "Well, Regina, I promised Trent here I'd take him to Jowston Hill today, so..."
"Go ahead. Have fun." she said. "Be good."
"Tell Lyle I stopped by..." Ajax said of his younger brother as he followed Trent out the door.
"If he bothers to come home tonight, I will..." muttered Regina.
Trent ordinarily was not very talkative. His parents fought often, and he learned early on to keep his feelings to himself. But for some reason, he felt he could open up to Uncle Ajax. In retrospect, perhaps that was why Lyle and Ajax didn't always get along---perhaps Lyle was jealous that his own son was less open to him than to his brother. But Trent never really knew for sure what it was. For the moment, however, the boy just enjoyed the silence as he and his uncle walked through the streets of Muse.
"Now, Trent," Ajax explained in that crisp, businesslike manner he had gotten from a decade of military service, "I'm taking you to Jowston Hill because it's a very special place, of course, but you also have to remember to behave yourself, okay? There's lots of important government employees working hard to do their jobs up there right now, as there's a conference going on, so don't get in their way. But if you stick close to me, I'll show you everything." He smiled warmly at his nephew.
"Okay, Uncle Ajax. I promise I'll be good." Trent said simply.
Most of that morning was eventless. Ajax and Trent had lunch at a restaurant, window-shopped a little bit, and then finally headed to Jowston Hill.
"Excuse me, that's a private area..." the soldier standing guard at the foot of the hill began. "Oh, wait. It's you, Commander Arnell. Business with the politicians today?"
"Well, I'd like to look in on the proceedings, but I'm just showing my nephew around. It's his birthday." Ajax said. The guard nodded, and let them through.
Trent knew that the meeting on the summit wasn't what was considered the annual Hilltop Conference (no one but the leaders were ever allowed into those!), and probably nothing more than menial governmental talk, but it was still exciting for him.
Ajax showed his nephew around the grounds of the hilltop, pointing out choice pieces of architechture or the significance of certain statues. And then, the people started arriving. Colorful banners waved as the mayor of Muse, Darryl, appeared, flanked by a multitude of guards and attendants. He was followed by a large crowd of apparent political figures.
"Who are those people?" Trent asked curiously.
"That's the Muse Council. There's six people on the council, and they help Mayor Darryl make important decisions about the city." his uncle explained in a hushed voice. He identified them as they passed by.
Two men passed by first. One was tall, thin, and balding, and the other was of an average height with shaggy brown hair.
"John Papr�, and Paul Boddle..."
Next came two more men, and a woman. The first man had glasses, and wore a powdered wig that made him look far worse than he probably thought it did.
"George Jutlar..."
The second man had a large, red beard, and a monacle on one eye. He waddled past the onlookers, most of whom were lowly desk clerks and such from City Hall who figured that getting this close to the leaders of the city might get them closer to promotions.
"That's Ringo Strebonn." Ajax identified. The woman appeared to be somewhere in her forties, and wore a conservative robe-type outfit. Her graying hair was long, and went down her back a considerable ways, but was tied back with a simple band.
"There's Yoko Fong Wong. She's the only woman on the council, as you can see. It's quite a feat, what with politics being as cutthroat as they sometimes are. They say she's pretty savvy, for a woman, though." Ajax said admirably.
"Uncle Ajax, do you think a woman could ever rule the city, or the country??" Trent asked. After all, his uncle was the expert on most things.
"...I don't know, Trent. Probably not, though. It'll be a long time before we see something like that happen, if ever." he replied.
Then came another man, following Yoko at some distance. He had a crooked, pointy nose, and his face was twisted into something resembling a contemptuous sneer. He had salt-and-pepper hair that was slicked back, and a goatee. He wore all black, and walked with a cane that was without a doubt only for appearances. Following him was someone who appeared to be a lackey of some sort---a man in his early twenties, with short-short black hair, also dressed in mostly black, but some gray. He seemed sort of... twitchy, and nervous.
"That last one is Badentine McFadden... I don't know who the young man with him is, though. Probably an aide of some sort." Badentine McFadden regarded both Ajax and Trent with a cold stare as he passed, with his young assistant following closely. He was followed by a short string of foreign diplomats from Kanakan and Zexen, who made their way with everyone else into the large conference building.
"Can we go in, too, Uncle Ajax?" Trent asked curiously.
"If you'd like. They don't want it too crowded in there, but if we just stay by the door, it should be okay." Ajax replied.
Inside, the politicians were taking their seats. Badentine McFadden and his lackey were still near the door as Ajax and Trent entered silently.
"Ah...I'm quite parched." Badentine made something of a show of announcing, speaking chiefly to his young assistant. "Reeley, could you please fetch me a glass of water?"
"Oh, Councilman McFadden, there's no need for that!" a run-of-the-mill spineless yes-man said eagerly, overhearing, "All diplomats will be served fresh water at their seats." McFadden, oddly enough, did not seem pleased, and shot the yes-man a dark look.
"Ahem. Reeley, might you fetch me...my slippers, then?" he requested of his assistant.
"Err...uhm, right away, sir. I won't be long." said the young man with black hair.
"And Reeley?" McFadden put in.
"Yes, sir?"
"Make sure those slippers are ready soon." he said seriously.
"Of course, sir." the young assistant said. He then cackled for a second, almost involuntarily, before catching himself. He then turned and left the building, nervous and twitchy as ever.
I don't really remember exactly what was discussed during that conference, nor did it really matter. No, only that conversation stood out in my mind forever, because of what happened after that... My uncle told me later that it was what started everything...
One-third of the way through the conference, Trent tired of watching, so his uncle went outside with him so they could see more of the grounds of Jowston Hill. A few hours passed, and then the meeting was adjourned. As the politicians filed out of the building, it happened.
Ernst Kawler, a foreign diplomat from Zexen, was making his way out of the conference hall when a nimble young man darted through the crowd and, to the shock of all present, slit the man's throat. He was later identified as radical political idealist Milikai Rowlett, but for the moment, he was no more than a dirty assassin, and he didn't make it far.
"By the gods! Someone, stop him!" Yoko cried. Milikai was obviously pleased with himself, but didn't linger in one place. Letting his actions speak for themselves, he dashed away down the hill.
He didn't make it more than fifteen feet before he fell over, dead---killed by a Darkness Rune.
Councilman McFadden lowered his outstretched hand.
"Gracious!" he gasped. "What a terrible tragedy. I wish I hadn't had to kill him, but after what he did... it was necessary."
Trent and Ajax sat in stunned silence, watching. A flurry of chaos erupted after that, and eventually Trent was taken home. He was shocked, of course, but didn't fully understand what had gone on. Ajax, however, was determined to do something about it...
My uncle realized after Foreign Minister Kawler's assassination how little the officials in Jowston really knew about such things--plots against dignitaries, secret resistance movements, or anything of the sort. He got out of the military the very next month, and set himself on lobbying the Muse government to allow an organization for the purpose of monitoring such activities to be created in Muse. A secret service.
The Muse Council had mixed reactions to the proposal. Some members were afraid that such an agency might have too much power, too much freedom of movement. Only Mayor Darryl (who surely wanted to spy on his enemies) and Yoko Fong Wong were fully behind it. John Papr� and Ringo Strebonn were soon convinced, as well. George Jutlar and Paul Boddle were still on the fence, and, unsurprisingly as far as my uncle was concerned, Badentine McFadden was dead-set against it.
Eventually, however, Ajax won over the council despite McFadden's protests, and the Muse Secret Spy Agency was created, with Ajax Arnell, or Agent "A" as he became known; and Hardy "Hellhammer" Nohmen, Ajax's army buddy and best friend; as its first members. And so it began...
******
FIVE YEARS LATER...
Trent Arnell was quite a bit taller. His voice was quite a bit deeper, except of course when it cracked. He had an air of stern-faced calm around him, at most times. His mother and father no longer lived together; his mother Regina had remarried and lived in another home in Muse, while his father Lyle had left Muse for the quieter surroundings of Ryube, where Trent saw him occasionally. So, things had changed.
One thing that had changed was the fact that the opposite sex had started looking pretty darn good as of late, and Trent was doing his best to impress them... Especially Georgia.
Georgia was a pretty redhead that Trent found himself really liking. He knew her through school, and they had been drawn to one another in a way. He found it intriguing that neither of them had had a perfect family life---but despite everything, the girl always had a bright attitude, and he appreciated that. It made up for when he was down in the dumps.
Trent's current problem was simple: Georgia's fifteenth birthday was in only a few days. He needed a great birthday gift that would really show her how he felt! But...what?
Walking home from school, down the streets of Muse that sunny, FATEFUL day, fifteen-year-old Trent spotted something that seemed, at first, too good to be true. There was a tent, a gauzy, sparkling tent, that everyone else seemed to be ignoring as they passed by. It was sky-blue, and had large letters printed in cursive on the sign outside it. It read, Madame Luv's Romantic Advice. CHEAP! Come in...
Trent took up the invitation, and made his way into the tent.
"Hello...? Anyone in here?"
"Come in, my child..." a wispy voice said from the very SOUL of the tent. Trent crept closer. The owner of the voice was a pretty woman of an age he couldn't quite pin down. She had black flowing hair, and there were toads hopping all around the table she was sitting at by the hundreds.
"Uh, are you...Madame...Luv...?" Trent inquired. She nodded mysteriously. Ever so...MYSTERIOUSLY. He took a seat.
"So, what brings you to my tent, young man...?" she said gently, with a warm smile. "GIRL troubles?"
"Why, as a matter of fact---" Trent began.
"Oh no. Not ANOTHER. You aren't one of those BOY-LOVING-BOYS, are you???" Madame Luv said suddenly. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's rampant BOY-ON-BOY-ACTION. I certainly don't have assistants hired at my home for that very purpose. Oh no. Bleah."
Trent stared at her, appalled.
"Uh...um..." he attempted to find his thoughts. "No."
"GOOOD~!" she said, overjoyed.
"I...uh...was wondering if you had any suggestions for a birthday gift for this girl I like. She'll be fifteen..." Trent said.
"Ah, sweet fifteen..." the robed woman said nostalgically, puffing on a stogie. "I know the perfect romantic gift."
"Do you...?"
"Yes. You wouldn't happen to have any phallic-shaped objects, would you? That's the way to a girl's heart, yessiree---sweaty, underaged sex. Haha!" Madame Luv suddenly starting laughing and choking on the smoke at the same time. Trent was shocked.
"S-sex...? But that's not a GIFT, really..."
"I knew you were a man-lover." Madame Luv spat. "We-ell, if you won't screw her like a dog in heat, thennn...something more tame, perhaps? How about a cheese log? Women love them!"
"Cheese log...? I was thinking more of....flowers, or something..."
"Flowers...? No, boy, you've got it all muddled! Flowers will only die!" the woman shouted, breaking wind. "Chocolates will be eaten, and jewelry will be stolen! ...But not by me. I promise you I don't have thugs who do that. I buy all my jewelry. And groceries. Ahem."
"So..uh...what do you suggest?" Trent dared to ask, fearing the answer. His fears were not unfounded.
"My boy, there are many romantic GESTURES that can get right to ...er...what are we talking about again? Oh, yes! So, you just find her greatest enemy, and bomb their house. KABOOM! Ohhh, it's a thing of beauty." Madame Luv proclaimed.
"But...her 'greatest enemy' is her father..." Trent said with a frown.
"Tough shit, then, pookums---I guess you'll just have to kill your girl, too! But fret not. DESTINY tells us that it's not all that hard to have a good time with a dead body. Trust me, I've--" the woman caught herself midsentence. "...never tried anything like that." She shifted her eyes back and forth guiltily. "...Really."
"I...think I'll go now."
******
Trent finally just decided to save himself the trouble and get Georgia a kitten. As it turned out, she was thrilled, thankfully. He was glad he had completely ignored the advice of the creepy, creepy tent lady.
"Ohh, Trent, it's so cute! Thank you! What should I call it?" Georgia said, petting the tiny ball of fluff. Trent considered.
"Uhh...I dunno...it's your kitten..." he said sheepishly.
"I'll call him Marcel, I think. Yes, that's a great name for him! Isn't it, Marcel?" Georgia said with a big smile. She glanced at Trent.
"Do you know how to care for them and all that?" he asked.
"Nah, but we can easily find a book about it, or something. C'mon, let's go to the Muse Library! Besides, ever since that crabby old librarian retired and that foreign girl took over, kids've been going there to make out all the time!"
Make out?? It was like magical words of GODLINESS. Trent nearly passed out just from the adrenaline rush.
"To the library, then!"
The Muse Public Library, for all its potential as a hotbed of teen love, was surprisingly empty that afternoon. Empty, of course, except for the new librarian, a girl several years older than Trent and Georgia by the name of Liesel Kawler---the daughter, in fact, of Ernst Kawler, the Zexen dignitary assassinated five years earlier. She had opted to stay in Muse and eventually got a job at the library.
Frankly, Liesel made Trent nervous. He couldn't tell if it was the accent that he could never get used to, or the fact that out of the blue she started calling him by name and acting as if she knew him. It was kind of creepy.
Trent and Georgia entered casually and began browsing the shelves.
"Hi, Trent!" Liesel waved from the front desk. She was sort of cute, he admitted---she had added a purplish tint to her wavy shoulder-length hair, and had pretty blue eyes.
"Uh, hey, Liesel." he replied. Georgia continued to browse.
"Are you looking for a certain book?" Liesel asked.
"That's...okay, Liesel, we'll find everything okay..." Trent said. He wanted to spend some time alone with Georgia, anyway.
In a far-away corner of the library, Georgia seemed to find what she was looking for, on a dusty shelf that didn't seem like many people touched it.
"...Oh, hey, Trent! Here's a book that could help..." she said, gesturing to a tome titled Raising Your Own Kittens.
"Looks like it would, really. Perfect, let's get it!" Trent said. Just as Georgia put her hand on it, they heard a yelp from the front desk area.
"Ohhh! You guys aren't back in that corner, are you?! Uhhhm..it's best if you don't--" Liesel began. Georgia pulled the book off the shelf, and a trap door snapped open beneath her and Trent.
"Oh, nuts..." came Liesel's voice. "I suppose with you being you, it would've happened sooner or later, but I'll be in big trouble for this one..."
Trent couldn't help thinking that he was going to die then, as he fell, and that he should've known better, because Liesel was the creepiest girl he had ever met.
Before he hit bottom, he remembered Madame Luv, and amended that thought.
******
Trent found himself in the dirt next to Georgia, somewhere underground. It was lit by torches in brackets on the wall, though, so someone was there. Indeed, it became even more apparent when two men appeared to help them up off the ground.
"Here for the entrance exam?" one said cheerfully.
"Umm..." Trent said uncertainly. "...What?"
"Oh, man, I think we have an accidental entrance, here." said the other man to the first.
"I suppose we'll have to get the boss."
"I'll do it, wait here." said the second man, going through a door with gold lettering at the top. It said "M.S.S.A."
Trent knew he was about to die. Georgia seemed less certain, or at least, less willing to accept this.
"What's going on here, anyway? What is this place?"
"Everything will be explained when you meet the boss." said the other guard casually, watching them intently. Soon, the other man came back and nodded to his partner. They were then blindfolded and led through the door, to where, Trent had no clue.
Trent felt himself being made to sit in a chair that wasn't entirely uncomfortable. What, was he crazy? He was about to be murdered at the hands of some sick, crazy serial rapist/killer, he just knew it. He could see the ransom note now..."Dear Mr. Arnell, we have your son! You can come get him... but we already killed him! Hahahahahaha! Signed, Anonymous."
"Oh, my goodness! Trent! Are you all right, there, buddy? Sorry about all this." came a very familiar voice from somewhere in front of him. He felt the blindfold being gently removed, and as his eyes focused, he found himself in an underground room that was sparsely furnished. But that wasn't the surprising part.
"Uncle...Uncle Ajax?" Trent said, stunned.
"Hi, Trent. Well, I guess you found out about this place. And...your friend, here, too..." Trent's uncle said with a grin.
"My name's Georgia. Would you mind---"
"Don't worry, Georgia, I'll explain everything." Ajax said. "What you've stumbled onto is very secret, so you must not repeat this information to anyone, understand?"
"S-sure."
"Good. This is the Muse Secret Spy Agency...or, MSSA, for short, if you prefer. I created it after that terrible assassination five years ago, to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. We here at MSSA work to gather intelligence around Jowston to uncover threats as well as anything else useful. That's it in the simplest of terms, really." Ajax explained to them.
"So...you're a spy, Uncle A?" Trent asked, in awe.
"Sure am." he said with a big grin. He gestured to a nametag that had Agent A written on it.
Trent wasn't sure what to think of all this. Thankfully, his uncle offered a solution.
"Now, usually, we don't have unexpected visitors, and if we do, they're turned away with explanations of a mining expedition, but you're my nephew, so I'll tell you what I'll do." Ajax said. "You can take the exam--both of you---and join the MSSA if you want to. Or, you can forget all this and go back to your normal lives, which is perfectly okay with me." He smiled warmly.
"Uh..."
"You don't have to decide now. Tell you what. Come to my house, both of you, tonight. You can stay there a few days and think about your decision. I'll deal with both of your parents. How's that?" his uncle offered.
It sounded good to Trent, so he said yes.
******
Well, you obviously know what it was I decided after those few days of staying with my uncle, but it wasn't over then. Georgia and I passed the exam and got into MSSA, but we weren't really SPIES like we had been fantasizing. I felt more like an errand boy... that is, until I got my first real assignment, which, I can tell you, turned into one of the scariest things I had ever done...
Agent A was a very orderly man, something that rubbed off on his nephew the more time they spent together, and so he liked to give everyone their assignments at the same time. So, that particular day, not even a month after Trent and Georgia had joined, everyone was lined up in a certain room A had set aside as his own, waiting for their mission.
There weren't very many people. Some were already out on assignment, leaving really only Hardy "Hellhammer" Nohmen, A's second in command; Trent, Georgia, and Liesel, the librarian. So THAT was why she had come off as so suspicous. She knew about Trent from his uncle.
Stepping up to talk to his uncle, Trent was nervous. His first assignment as a SPY! What would it be??
"Ah, Trent...I've a special mission for you." Ajax said with a smile, "Could you deliver these papers to the bank in town, please? I really need them taken care of."
"Wow...are these top-secret documents?" Trent asked.
"Not really, sport. They're just some bank forms." Ajax said apologetically. "Don't mean to disappoint, but I don't wanna get you in over your head just yet."
Trent felt slightly embarrassed to be getting such a...KID job. He was fifteen, after all. Couldn't he handle himself in the big-time spy situations? Didn't his uncle TRUST him?
It turned out Georgia's job was equally...secretarial, though she didn't even get to leave the underground complex. What a disappointment.
Trent climbed the winding staircase leading to the complex's secret exit, lingering for as long as he could, knowing full well that once he left the complex of MSSA, his task would be as exciting as getting groceries for his mother and stepfather. Delivering bank forms? That wasn't secretive in the slightest.
Grumbling, Trent trudged down the streets of Muse. It was starting to drizzle a bit, so he buttoned up his coat as he walked. He realized that he actually hadn't been to the bank in years, and wasn't exactly sure where it was. From memory, he had a general idea where in town it was, so headed off in that direction.
He was kind of surprised as he neared the area familiar in his memory as being close to the bank. The neighborhood had kind of fallen into disrepair. But finally, he found what he was fairly sure was the Muse City Bank. It looked kind of seedy, but hey, it was still a legitimate financial institution, right?
Trent opened the door and entered to find the answer to his question. Which was no, incidentally. It might have been the fact that he stepped out into open air and plummeted into a dug-out pit, or the ominous laughter that floated over him, but he had the feeling that he was about to get in over his head...
******
"Thought you could outwit me, did you?" the cold voice above Trent gloated. A figure appeared at the top of pit on the side opposite the door that he couldn't quite make out.
"Um, no..." Trent objected. "I think I made a mistake. This is almost certainly the wrong address. Umm, would you mind helping me out of here?"
"I don't think so." said the figure, with ominous finality. "You're not going anywhere. Don't think we don't know what you're up to, what with these...heroics." The person said the word as if it was something unsightly to be found on the bottom of one's shoe.
"I wasn't being heroic. I was delivering something to a bank, which, as I'm well aware now, isn't here anymore. And..." Trent said, cringing, "I appear to have twisted my ankle in the fall. Please, can you help me?"
"Mwahahahahaha! FOOL! Don't you realize that you've fallen into the hands of...EVIL?" the figure cackled. "Bind him, and bring him into the chamber."
Several muscular men emerged from a hidden trapdoor down in the pit, and restrained Trent---not that he could have fought back very well anyway. Once his wrists and ankles were tied, he found himself being carted off to another part of the building.
Trent was placed in a chair where he had a good view of his surroundings. It was nothing fancy---just a large room with a high ceiling. The figure who had been talking to him earlier sat in a swivel-chair opposite him, at the other end of the room.
"We KNOW what you're really doing here, boy." said the man. Able to see his face, Trent was shocked---it was none other than Baddie McFadden, the councilman! ...Then again, maybe it wasn't all that surprising. His blood went cold. If they knew he was MSSA, even a low-level employee, so to speak, these dastardly people wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
"I'm...just a delivery boy." he lied.
"Hmph. I have special intelligence that says otherwise." McFadden said icily. "I'm a well-respected official in this city, and I will not allow your meddling to topple all my illegal doings!"
Frankly, Trent thought, McFadden was doing a fairly good job of toppling all those things on his own. After all, if he had left well enough alone, Trent wouldn't have known anything at all.
"I wouldn't do that..." Trent attempted to convince him.
"Nonsense. You've committed ESPIONAGE, in MY town! MINE!" He said ominously. "I'm afraid I'll have to do away with you now." Trent had to think fast, or he'd be dead meat.
"Uh, no! There's been a mistake! I was only sent to deliver something to you!" he invented.
"...Oh? What's that?" Baddie said, arching an eyebrow.
"These...um...blueprints! They're for a ...a machine. A machine that harnesses the power of...of..."
"Of what??" McFadden asked sharply.
"...Of...runes! Yes, runes! It takes their power and allows one to..um...um...destroy things, at a massive level! I swear it, please!!" Trent lied. He had nothing but bank statements!
"How intriguing..." Baddie McFadden said with a cackle. "So who exactly sent you?"
Shoot.
"Baaah, it matters not! It must be one of my research branches in Greenhill!" the man laughed. "I'll have to untie you to get to those blueprints, I suppose. But first, let me introduce my assistants..."
Trent blinked. Assistants?
Baddie clapped some sort of signal, and a man appeared. Trent recognized him instantly---the twitchy, black-haired lackey dressed in black and gray from Jowston Hill, five years ago.
"This..." McFadden said triumphantly. "Is Reeley!"
"Haha!" the lackey said, sneering.
A second man appeared from a side-door. He was equally twitchy, with the same color hair, but was shorter, and seemed disinterested completely.
"Oh, yes..." Baddie said with a disappointed sigh. "And this is his brother, Nottmuch, I suppose..."
"You can call me, 'Notty.'" the man said blandly.
"We just ignore him." Reeley said with a frown. He began to untie Trent. Once the knots were undone, Baddie McFadden frisked him for the papers he was carrying. Here it comes, Trent thought to himself, It's all over once they see what those really are... He cringed.
"What's THIS?!" McFadden raged, staring at the bank statements. "Is this a joke?!!"
"...No?" Trent faltered, trying to hop backwards away from them without hurting his ankle further.
"SEIZE him!!!" Baddie bellowed. Notty didn't bat an eyelash (or move), but Reeley rushed at Trent with such incredible zeal in his eyes that he just fell over backwards.
Maybe... maybe it was meant to be this way? Trent wondered. Maybe dying here was just... his destiny...
Suddenly, the back wall of the room exploded in a firestorm of blazing death. Which, really, the three men had not been expecting, so they went flying into the opposite wall. A woman bathed in light stood in the burning hole. A woman named Madame Luv.
"Did someone say DESTINY?!" she blurted. Seeing Trent, she beckoned wildly. "Hop on! We'll blow this joint!" He noticed that there was no form of vehicle or anything of that manner to hop on TO.
"...to WHAT?" he asked. She looked around.
"...Just come here!" she insisted. He crawled over to her, amongst the burning wreckage. Baddie McFadden jumped to his feet, livid.
"Deadly Fingertips!" he chanted, aiming at either Trent or Madame Luv, it was hard to say which.
"Fingertits? What kind of spell is that?!" Madame Luv cackled. "I'll show you fingertits!" She opened her robe, and Trent gasped, expecting to be met with stark public nudity, but instead, a flood of amphibians poured outwards, overwhelming the evil councilman.
"You know, these things really are useful, but there are days when I just wish I had less toads, you know?" she said off-handedly, as if this was an everyday problem. Closing her robe, she did a backflip, hit her head on the ceiling, fell down with a loud crash, grabbing Trent by the hand and jumped into the fire.
His head was spinning, and he was choking on smoke, as well as wondering whether he was actually better off with this insane woman or not, but despite all this, one dominant thought was going through Trent's head.
Wait until Georgia hears about MY first mission!
******
"Uhm...thank you, kind stranger, for helping my nephew out like that. You've given us a valuable informational edge we need to put McFadden away forever. But...um...please. You can stop bowing now." Ajax, or Agent A, said once they got back to MSSA headquarters---which the woman had somehow creepily already known the location of.
"What did you say your name was again, miss?" asked Hardy, a large man with a gruff voice.
"I have no idea." Madame Luv answered, smoking another stogie. "I must be off, though. I have a special appointment. YOU know..." she whispered conspiratorially. "With the doctor." She winked at least twelve times, not at all discreetly.
"Er, we understand, ma'am. We'll show you the way out, then." Ajax offered.
"No need. I can make it...with my MAGIC." she said dramatically. A soft blue light surrounded the woman, and she vanished.
"Well then---" Ajax began, but then they heard loud thumping from inside the broom closet. The door fell open and Madame Luv emerged, looking shaken.
"Ah! I'll just take you up on that offer to find the door." she said with a sweet smile. Blinking, Hardy led her out. Agent A turned to Trent.
"Well, Trent... I'm quite proud of you! You certainly got in way over what your skills could help you out of, but you performed very smoothly. I'm impressed."
"Thanks." he said, beaming.
"I think from now on, I'll try to give you less... menial tasks around here, whaddya say?"
"Sure! Can I have a nifty moniker, too?" Trent asked.
"Certainly." A said with a smile.
"Okay. I think simplicity will work... Agent 'T' sounds great to me." Trent said.
"Copycat." Georgia accused with a wink.
"It has a certain ring to it." Agent A agreed. "Well then, I think that settles that. Welcome to MSSA, Agent T. You've earned it."
For that moment, nothing could wipe the smile off of Trent's face. For all his family troubles, he was now part of a new kind of family... one that was happy, for a change.
******
"So that's how it started, then." Agent T finished up, looking at his audience. "I hope you haven't lost all respect for me." He winked almost too fast to see it. Fitcher grinned at him.
"I should think not. And I have a sinking feeling I know who Madame Luv is." he said.
"Do you, now?" T said cryptically. "Best to keep it under your hat, then. We don't need her showing up on our doorstep, now." He smirked.
"Besides, Dublos would be heartbroken again." Nok-Nok chuckled. "He's in love with her now, you know. Ever since that spat at Sindar Ruins."
"Dublos needs a woman that he can't actually have. It'll do him good." Nora said. T got up from his chair. Fitcher sat back in his bed, still absorbing all the information. For a stiff-lipped leader-type, there was more to T than met the eye, he realized. He liked that.
"T, ...I have a question." Fitcher said.
"Yes?"
"...What happened to Badentine McFadden?"
"You should know the answer to that one, Fitcher. He escaped, of course." T said.
"And...uh...is that Liesel chick still the librarian NOW? As in, when I joined??"
"Yes she is, Fitcher." T said seriously.
"So when I found that book leading to the entrance you guys told me to take...I wasn't deceiving the librarian at all, was I?" Fitcher said, realizing he had been duped.
"No, you weren't, Fitcher." T said with a grin. "She's MSSA, now and forever. Though after that arson experience, I'm sure she'll be taking her retirement soon."
"So...T... you and Georgia must've been, like, the youngest members in MSSA history, right? I mean, age fifteen! Jeez!" Fitcher marveled. T chuckled, almost sadly.
"Sometimes I think it was too young. But, no. We weren't." T replied.
"You weren't? Who was, then?" Fitcher persisted. Nok-Nok shifted uneasily in his chair, as if some hidden memory was coming back to him.
"You're looking right at her, Fitcher." T said thoughtfully, leaving the room. Fitcher blinked.
"...Nora??"
"That's right. But now you need your rest. You've been through a lot, today." she said, kissing him on the forehead before walking to the door. "Come on, Nok-Nok."
"Nighty-night, Flaming Duckie. Sweet dreams. Don't let the bedbugs bite. Don't wet the bed, either, cuz---" Nok-Nok said mockingly. Agent Orange, who had stayed silent the whole time after the story had ended, dragged him out by his ear.
"Ow! Ow! Lay off, okay?!" he wailed.
...Nora, huh? Fitcher mused. That must be quite the story. But for now, he just laid back, sank into the warm bed, and remained alone with his thoughts. It was the best sleep he'd had in a while, for some reason.
Except for the nightmares about a certain Seer opening up her robes and flashing the world. Blargh.
