Double Agent

○ twenty nine ○

I stumble out of the room, breathing heavily. Beside me, Rez tumbles out of the room adjacent to mine, sinking to the floor, placing his hand to his chest. He turns to me and shakes his head in disbelief.

"Some days... I can't believe.. I willingly do this... for a living," he gasps as a teardrop of sweat rushes past his neatly cropped black hair and down his puffy red face.

I nod in acknowledgement, recounting the horror simulation we've just been through. It's the time of the year where all agents are retested, and like my first day here, the past few days we've been put through all manner of tests. Since Rez and I are relatively new, our tests are different from the other higher ranking cadets like Kathy, Anna and Damien, but it's difficult enough to pass, especially for me, who outranked Ezra that first time by sheer wit and no strength at all. It's now coming back to bite me in the ass.

Chagrin is so strict on these tests that he didn't even allow Anna to perform the IQ and compatibility testing on the other agents. For the past few days, top-ranked agents from British Secret Intelligence HQ have roamed the halls with their gelled hair and slicked back buns. I can't tell if Damien is fascinated or intimidated by them.

Rez lopes his arm around my shoulder before we trundle tiredly through the halls to the central meeting room where a slender motorised vehicle pours water through its dispenser into two glasses on its tray. I gulp down the water as I recount to Rez how much more aggressive the dummy was this time compared to the previous time I did it.

Just because we have time before our next aptitude test, we shuffle our feet noiselessly a few levels down to spy on the older agents in training tests that would absolutely blow your mind.

Damien and Sherry are engaged in a serious spar in a glass room. I think It's been mirrored one way, so they can't see us. A red timer flashes on the wall. Three minutes... no... three hours? The agent in the room assessing them is either so bored or so impressed that she stares at them in a daze. I turn to Rez, who's already gawking at the time, in horror. The best part is that they don't even look that winded or drained. Sweaty, yes, but they look like they're only at 30% energy. My heart thrums in excitement as I imagine myself in one of these rooms, so skilled, so professional, that I can be slammed fully down onto the floor like Sherry and get up seconds later to dodge another blow.

A few doors down we finally find Anna. She's wearing earmuffs and the room's glass seems to be thicker than the others. On the table next to her are a multitude of weapons, from LMGs, shotguns, to pistols and handguns. Her long braid shakes from the force as bullets rattle out of the semiomatic she has in her hand. The targets are located so far away I squint to find the red dot at the centre. When I finally locate it, I realise the precision needed to land all the bullets so perfectly on the bullseye to the point where no more red can be seen. Only a few bullets litter the yellow area. Her face has absolute concentration on it, she looks deadly. Steam twirls in the air as she looks towards another assessor that stands to the side and nods her head, recording something on a tablet.

We find Kathy and another agent in the next room. She has a headpiece attached to her head, wires running from its sleek oval design as it wraps around her curls. A computer stands in between the two. It's translucent so either agent can see it and the agent behind it. From the looks of it, it appears to be a logic and critical thinking test. The agents are put into a random scenario that they smoothly have to make their way out of before suspicion is aroused. A mediator sits with a headpiece attached to herself and her own computer, away from the other two.

Last but not least is Ezra. He leans cockily against the back of a chair, his legs spread arrogantly as he faces a piston-like wall. Long dart-like objects shoot from it spontaneously, and he catches them with staggering grace and accuracy, letting them drop from his hand to the ground next to his feet. It's a reaction time test, and he appears to have caught every single one. The mediator in the room, swipes her hand against a floating hologram panel, and the aptitude colour on it flashes a brighter green.