WALKING DISASTERS | Jack Thompson

21.

"LOOKS LIKE WE BEAT THE BAD GUYS HERE."

"So we could've slept for another hour?" Dum-Dum asked.

"Well, then we wouldn't have the advantage of surprise, would we, Timothy?" Peggy replied.

"So, we infiltrate in three teams of two and a team of three," Jack said. "You, you, you, us. No weapons discharge unless absolutely necessary. Meet on the ground floor in thirty. Clear?"

"Carter? Stark?" Happy Sam asked.

"Agent Thompson's lead," Peggy shrugged.

"You got a better idea? Let's hear it," Jack said.

"Three teams of two and a team of three is faster," Sera said. "A team of four and a team of five is safer."

"Discretion seems to be the order of the day," Peggy added. "We don't know what we're walking into."

"Okay, you five," Jack said, gesturing to Peggy, Sera, Dum-Dum, Junior and Li. "Happy Sam, Pinkerton, Ramirez, you're with me. Good?" Peggy and Sera nodded. "Aces."

They entered the facility and kept to their formation, coming across a classroom inside the building. As they looked around, Peggy asked, "Does anyone else feel a chill going up their knickers?"

"I would if I wore knickers," Junior replied.

Sera couldn't help but laugh.

Li bumped into a projector, which started up. "Oh, sorry."

"Shut that thing off!" Dum-Dum demanded.

"Wait!"

Peggy walked up to the projector and started rewinding the frames, revealing words that would have been difficult to see. "Instill... Fear."

"Really regretting the lack of knickers right now," Junior said.

Sera heard a noise that sent her blood running cold. "There's a little kid crying."

"What's a little kid doing in this place?" Li asked.

They followed the sounds of the crying to a dormitory, filled with beds that had handcuffs chained to the metal frames.

"Little kids beds?" Li asked.

"It's a boarding school," Peggy replied.

"Why are there shackles on the beds?"

"It's Russia, man," Junior replied.

Dum-Dum noticed the child crying across the room and said, "Peggy, Sera..." he approached the girl. "Hey there. You okay?"

"Dum-Dum..." Sera said slowly.

"It's alright," he said. "We're here to help," he crouched down slowly. "It's alright, we're not here to hurt you," the girl reached up and touched Dum-Dum's hat. "Oh, my hat? You like my hat. It's called a bowler hat. The reason they call it that is because... Why do they call it a bowler, Peggy?"

Sera heard a groan of pain come from Dum-Dum and saw the girl stab him with a knife. The girl grabbed Dum-Dum's gun and pointed it at them. Before anybody could react quick enough, the girl had pulled the trigger and Junior, who was standing just in front of Sera, fell backwards into her.

She managed to catch him as he went down, and cradled his head in her lap. "Junior? Junior, hey, stay awake, you hear me?"

The girl rolled across the floor and disappeared through a vent. Dum-Dum made to follow, but Peggy said, "Dugan, she's just a little girl."

"She's anything but that," he replied.

"Dugan, no!"

Junior was squeezing Sera's hand, a terrified look in his eyes. He tried to form words, but he couldn't get them out. Sera looked down at him, tears in her eyes as she held his hand and tried to ease him into peace.