Spies, Volume 1: Hurricane

Chapter 2 - Striker

The black and gold ASO van skidded to a halt in front of a seemingly abandoned warehouse in Granby, Virginia. One by one, the agency's elite group of agents exited the vehicle and turned their attention towards the door. Half of the group had rendezvoused to the back entrance of the building, located on the other side.

Striker was the last agent to exit the van as he ran over to the back entrance while unsheathing the escrima stick from his belt. "Okay, guys. We've gotta find a way into that building by causing some sort of distraction. And we gotta do it fast. Who knows what they're doing to that girl in there?" he said, speaking into his Bluetooth headset as he walked towards the door.

One of the rendezvoused agents pulled a pin out of his belt and started picking the lock.

A soft click was heard as the group snuck into the building.

At that same moment, Striker had picked the lock to the back door and ran with his squad in search of Raven.

Inside, Raven groggily opened her eyes and looked down at her feet. She struggled to free herself from the ropes that had bound her hands and feet to the folding chair as she heard a man chuckle. "What do you want from me... Blackjack?" she asked before looking up at the shadowy figure that approached her.

Blackjack was a man in his mid 30s, clad in a black leather jacket and dark jeans paired with combat boots. He stepped into the light slowly and looked at the helpless teen. A mischievous smile crept onto his face. "Raven Gonzales. The ISA's top agent... Has been kidnapped," he said. "What we want from you are the weapon files that your group stole from the ASO a few months ago."

"They're back at the agency's headquarters. You're never getting 'em," The girl spat. "And trust me, when the ISA comes to save me, you're gonna regret kidnapping me in the first place."

Blackjack let out a soft laugh. "That's funny. You really believe that someone's gonna come and save—"

The door suddenly blew open as the group of ASO agents that were led by Agent Striker ran into the room, followed by the second group. All of their weapons were aimed at Blackjack.

"The jig's up, Jack. Let the girl go," Striker said while twirling his escrima sticks as he stared down his opponent.

Blackjack smirked and looked at the ten agents standing front of him. "Boys... Why don't we teach Striker and his little friends a couple lessons on manners?"

A group of Blackjack's thugs walked up behind their leader, bats and other miscellaneous weapons in hand as they stared down their opponents.

Striker uttered a single word, "Attack," and the battle commenced. Bullets ricocheted and flew around as agents on both sides took cover behind walls and storage crates. The enemy began dropping like flies, but Striker's main focus at the moment was to get Raven to safety.

He battled through the fray, taking down the enemy with knockout blows using his martial arts training. But Raven had disappeared along with Blackjack. He heard a faint but sudden cry for help, coming from down the hallway. "Raven," he gasped.

The young agent rushed out of the room and took out the enemy agents in his way. The rage and anger in him only fueled him to unleash even more devastating attacks as he ran through the building in search of the girl.

"Let me go!" Raven screamed, trying to break free of Blackjack's grasp as he only tightened his grip on her wrists. She heard the agonizing screams of Blackjack's crew, along with running footsteps. They were getting closer and closer.

Striker broke down the door as he entered the room. A burning fire erupted in his masked eyes. "Let her go, Blackjack!" he commanded, staring at him.

Blackjack chuckled and threw Raven onto the floor before looking straight ahead at Striker. "I don't think so, Striker. Why don't we see how good you really are at hand-to-hand combat?" he taunted, landing a swift and precise kick that knocked the weapon out of Striker's hands and started driving him back towards the wall.

Striker had to find some sort of opening in his frenzy of attacks. But how could he? He had no experience in hand-to-hand combat before! He always relied on his weapons. Come on, Nick... Find an opening, he thought before swinging at Blackjack with open fists. He was missing by a mile. None of his strikes were connecting.

Raven slowly crawled over to the dropped weapon and staggered up to her feet, sneaking up behind Blackjack, swinging as hard as she could.

Blackjack wasn't dazed. He turned around and looked at Raven before knocking the escrima stick out of her hands.

Striker acted quickly and dropkicked Blackjack before delivered a shot to the back of his enemy's head with a hard left, knocking him to the floor.

Blackjack looked up at the two bewilderedly. "How could this-" before he could finish his sentence, a pair of footsteps could be heard, rushing towards him.

Striker delivered a hard punt kick to Blackjack's skull, fully rendering him unconscious. He then turned to face Raven.

She couldn't speak, let alone explain how thankful she was now that he was here. She picked up the weapon and handed it back to him. She smiled softly, then let the agents lead her out to the parking lot, where the agency van was waiting.

The agents climbed into the vehicle, with Agent Striker and Raven getting into the vehicle last as they sat in the back. The van's engine ignited and the group was on the road again, heading towards the Gonzales's residence.

The 16 year old girl glanced over at Striker, looking down at the pendants hanging from his neck. "That's a pretty interesting necklace you got there," she said, smiling softly. "So, um... T-thanks for saving me, Agent Striker."

The agent looked back and gave the girl a silent nod as a way of saying "You're welcome," before touching the pendants that were hanging from his neck. They were inscribed with 5 virtues that his father lived by: "Honor, Confidence, Strength, Courage, and Wisdom."

A couple minutes later, the van parked in Raven's parents' driveway. Striker led the girl up the steps to her front door. "You sure you're okay?" he asked. His voice was modulated due to the vocoder installed in his mask.

Raven nodded. "Yes. I'll be fine." She then turned her attention towards the door and reached for the doorknob. "Hey, I just wanted to say-"

The van had already sped down towards New Hope street. She slowly opened the door and saw her aunt standing there, arms crossed. She took a deep but shaky breath and said, "Aunt Danielle... before you get mad at me, let me explain everything."

Meanwhile, the agency van made a right turn back onto Norcova Avenue, parking in the driveway of a modern looking two-story house.

Nick, no longer wearing his secret agent gear, stepped out of the van, walking up to the front door as the van started driving away again, back towards headquarters. He rang the door bell twice and in a matter of seconds, the door opened.

A middle aged man with black hair and a thin mustache answered the door. "So, I got a call from your school, saying that you were coming home at 8:00. It's fucking 12:00 in the afternoon. Where were you for the past four hours?!" He asked, looking at the young teenager in front of him.

Yep. I expected this would happen, he thought while taking a deep breath. "Okay... Here's what happened," Nick replied, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him.