Spy School: 'The Aftermath'

Recovery

Somewhere Near The CIA Academy of Espionage

Washington, DC

May 24th

3000 hours

Erica had finally woken up and was presently trying to get information out of Murray. We planned on leaving once everything was situated.

He, however, would not budge. He was smiling at the fact that he knew something we didn't, and he also knew that it was getting on our nerves.

That was when Erica threatened to take out another one of his teeth (again) if he didn't talk, and probably then some.

He stopped smiling.

Murray explained. "I didn't actually have a plan—"

"You didn't have a plan?" Erica cut him off, not buying a word. Me neither.

Murray's eyebrows knit together in irritation. "If you would let me finish what I was going to say..." He spoke like his teeth weren't on the line. Erica glared at him, crossing her arms.

He cleared his throat, albeit nervously.

"As I was saying, I didn't actually have a plan, or at least a really elaborate and super-genius-usual one. The whole deal was to create a distraction with Jordan, possibly kill Ben as a plus, and then leave while the whole academy's staff were going nuts." He chuckled.

"You left a lot of things out," I said. "like, how did Jordan get through all the security? And how was it shut off in the first place?"

"I'll tell you... If you set me free."

"How about you tell us if I pull out one of your molars?" Erica retorted, following suit and using a hand to grip his jaw.

"Wait!" He confessed, "Fine, I'll tell you!"

She released her grip.

"Or I could just tell you something completely false, and you'd think it's the truth."

Erica made an exasperated noise, before saying; "The academy can deal with the interrogation. Let's just get back to the school."

I looked back over to the now-dead fire, and Nefarious nearby idly playing with a small stick and tracing it over the forest ground.

The other person Murray was with still seemed to be fast asleep. How hard did he hit his head?

Erica knocked Murray unconscious with a good whack to the head before we went, just to save us from his complaining—Erica throwing  him over her shoulder. Meanwhile, me and Nefarious grabbed both ends of the driver, hauling his body to at least make it easier to move him during our exit.

"Is your leg okay to walk on for at least a half-mile back to the school?" She asked.

I bent my knee a little, making sure. It still hurt a decent amount, but I could walk.

"Yeah."

And off we went.

"Which way are we taking?" I asked.

"We'll just walk to the front."

The trip was fairly uneventful, besides Nefarious recoiling at the sight of a squirrel and almost dropping the driver in the process.

It was a quick 10 minutes before we reached the telltale signs of us nearing the school, with old and dried paintball residue—and disturbed ground.

"Do you hear that?" Erica questioned. I listened for a second before catching on to what she was asking about.

"Shouting. Wasn't there first-year school recreation planned today?"

"No," Erica furrowed. "It's tomorrow."

We picked up our pace a little towards the front of the school, and that's when we saw it.

A crowd of average-looking adults, and a lot of furious faces.

We immediately ran behind a group of neatly cut bushes, hiding Murray's driver in another nearby bush.

I could see several of the school faculty keeping the mob from entering the building, and several (who I would assume to be parents) adults demanding to see where their child was, and lots of other questions that would elude to this top-secret academy.

This wasn't good. Why did they come here?

Then I heard a smug laugh surface from behind Erica's shoulder.

Murray had woken up, and this is what he had been planning.

"What did you do?" Erica snapped, grabbing his shoulders and pinning him to a shrub.

"What do you think?" He smiled.

This wasn't as simple as defusing a bomb. This was really bad. If this got out, the entire next generation of spies would be tossed away and the parents outraged. Not to mention the media response. I would assume they had a protocol for this, but it wouldn't be easy silencing a horde of over seventy adults, and most of the measures to stop the public eye from finding out would have probably prevented this from happening anyways.

"We need to get into the school. Now." Erica swiftly knocked Murray unconscious again, sprinted down the side of the academy, leaving us to follow her with the the driver.

The school didn't look better than the outside either. In fact, it looked worse. Kids were running and pacing about, petrified of their parents finding out about the existence of the school. Books were strewn about in the halls.

Because if it's one thing these kids fear and can't deal with—it's not attackers twice their size, or ninjas, it's their parents.

As we walked through the halls, we got a couple looks from disturbed students, probably because we were holding two unconscious people.

Everyone looked tired and frazzled, considering it was 3:24 AM.

We spotted Mike and Zoe. They looked pretty shaken as well.

"My parents can't find out about this!" Mike panicked, though it morphed into a state of confusion. "Why are you holding two people unconscious? And where were you?"

"And why is Nefarious Jones with you?" Zoe interjected.

"It's a long story," I answered.

A voice over the intercom suddenly spoke. It was the principal. "All students, please report to the..." He trailed off, like he was forgetting a word for something. "...subterranean levels below the school. If you don't know where to go, follow someone who does. Once you're down, the faculty will lead you to where to go."

The students, relieved to have some sort of protocol be enacted, hurried over towards the multiple entrances of the sublevels.