Spy School Out West

Chapter 22

We reached 1k views before I published this chapter! I'm so proud of you guys! Have a cookie 🍪 

Censored naughty word warning, some romantic pressures. I would skip if that bugs you, but this is a really important chapter I won't be able to summarize without mentioning it. 

--
Ben's POV
--
Joshua Hallal's house
Paris, France
August 3
0900 hours
--

"I suppose you're wondering how you're still alive right now," Joshua said.

After we'd attempted to ambush him, Joshua had literally snapped his fingers. Before we could do anything about it, ten thugs had pounded down the stairs, one for each of us. I could tell Catherine, Cyrus, and Erica were beating themselves up over not checking the upper levels before setting up the ambush. 

My thug had wrested my handgun from me with as much effort as I would use to check my phone, then pressed the barrel to my head. The goons had lined us up two deep and five across, with me behind Zoe and her thug. Now, Joshua was standing in front of us, cosplaying as a stereotypical dramatic crime overlord. The effect was somewhat diluted by the tasteful flower arrangements and the surprising amount of "Live. Laugh. Love." signs scattered throughout the living room on various walls, coffee tables, and countertops. 

"Oh, if you're going to start monologuing, do you mind if I sit down? I have POTS," Balto explained. For her first time being held at gunpoint, she was astoundingly calm. 

I desperately made a cutting motion with my hand across my neck. I knew the POTS thing was false for a fact, as Balto had been walking for hours earlier that morning. While you typically wanted to rattle and upset your captor as much as possible, Joshua was the exception. He already had a short temper when it came to us and I knew he would lose it if we jerked him around too much. 

Joshua looked somewhat rattled and rather upset that his dramatic pontificating had been interrupted, which was Balto's intent. "Seriously," she said. "I'm going to pass out if I stand for much longer. Then you'd have to properly terrify us all over again, which would take away from the effect a little bit." 

I had a feeling that Joshua would enjoy repeating whatever speech he'd cooked up very much, but he still said yes. I sat down on the floor as well, figuring that if Joshua wanted me dead at all during this interaction he could do it whether I sat or stood. 

Joshua stood in front of us, feet shoulder-width apart, and actually pulled out notecards from his pocket. I was glad Zoe was standing in front of me since I was red from holding in laughter, and from the looks of it, many of my fellow spies were as well. I caught Chip giving Jawa an is this guy for real? look.

"Almost two years ago, Benjamin Ripley figured out that not only was I still alive but plotting an evil scheme that would have earned me and SPYDER millions. He then went onto defeat that plot, costing me an indescribable amount of respect in the evil industry." Joshua flipped his notecard and paced dramatically to the other side of the room, more in front of Erica and Mike now, while I cringed from how ridiculous it was.

"Then, I recruited him to the Wiseman Preparatory Academy. He trained as an agent of evil for weeks before convincing Nefarious Jones, an operative I personally picked out, to abort missiles that would have earned SPYDER billions. Then, he went on to survive the clever fail-safe I had thought to build into the program. This cost me even more reputation - not to mention money - than I'd already thrown away at his shoes." He paced to the center of the room and faced the ceiling, as if there was an invisible camera up there he was talking to.

"There was the infamous Operation Snow Bunny and the iconic Operation Yeasty Meerkat, before he thwarted another SPYDER plot to make trillions on real estate. I had lost any credibility I still had. I was now a complete laughingstock at the hands of a teenage boy," Joshua spat dramatically.