The Elements Trilogy Specials

The One Time Jamie Was Late

"Agent Shay, please report to the debriefing base. I repeat, Agent Shay, please report to the debriefing base." The voice on the intercom sounded frustrated, having repeated the summons for Jamie four times now.

Stacy paused in his run, slowing down to a walk. It was only his third year of life, but he had all the knowledge and intelligence of Jamie, who was recently 17. He knew damn well what would happen if Jamie didn't come back to The Forces soon. Stacy stopped running altogether and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to access any memories that Jamie recently acquired to figure out what was taking him so long.

Coming up blank, Stacy sighed and continued his run. Days spent without Jamie were often boring. Jamie worked more often than not, spending most of his time on assignments. This previous assignment had been a short distance away, only supposed to take up a couple hours of Jamie's day. More often than not, his assignments were in different states, sometimes a foreign country.

Jamie was often gone for days at a time, leaving Stacy to train and wander around the building by himself. Stacy really had no purpose, except to exist as a replacement for when Jamie died, so he spent most of his time in training, even though he never actually fought a person, let alone killed someone else.

The door to the track slammed open and Gavin Fuller stormed in, two security guards behind him. "Shaw!" Gavin barked, causing Stacy to jump and stumble to a halt. "Where is he?"

Stacy's mind went blank with fear. He knew about Jamie's past with Gavin, could see it every time he explored Jamie's memories. Gavin was the reason for Jamie's broken legs at the age of six, and the reason Jamie had to survive in the freezing woods at the age of 15 for 24 hours. Every time Jamie was around Gavin, Stacy could practically feel the fear overpowering every one of Jamie's senses through their mental connection.

"Who?" Stacy managed to sputter out.

"Don't play dumb with me, shithead." Gavin snarled. "Where's Agent Shay?"

"He's on assignment." Stacy said as steadily as he could. "He left this morning. Malibu, I think he went."

"I am perfectly aware of where one of my assassins went, Shaw. I sent him on the job." Gavin's snarl got deeper. "I'm asking why isn't he back yet? He's late." Gavin took a step forward, causing Stacy to involuntarily take a step back.

Gavin's snarl transformed into a smirk, seeing the fear etched into Stacy's face.

"I-I don't know..." Stacy said shakily, slowly losing his composure as Gavin worked his way towards him. "Maybe he's hurt, or," Stacy closed his eyes and gulped. "M-maybe there was a complication, maybe he got caught."

"No," Gavin hissed. "He's still alive, his vitals are being recorded, remember? If he had gotten caught, he would've taken the cyanide. He'd be dead. Besides, Jamie? Get caught? He's not that dumb." Gavin still was slowly making his way towards Stacy.

"You're right, o-of course, you're right," Stacy tripped over his own feet, and Gavin suddenly seized his forearm, holding him upright.

Panic flared in Stacy's chest, but he stayed perfectly still.

Gavin, however, tightened his grip on Stacy's arm. "You realize a punishment will be in order here, Shaw?"

Stacy nodded frantically. "I-I'll send him over once he returns."

"Stop stuttering!" Gavin said irritably. "And no. I think a more proper lesson will be learned this way."

Before Stacy had a chance to ask what he meant, Gavin's grip on his arm tightened with enough force to bruise, and suddenly Gavin's fist was in his face, a cracking noise echoing in his ears.