Spies, Volume 1: Hurricane

Chapter 9 - Upgrades

The days went by quick as Nick regained his strength and was able to walk without the aid of a crutch by the end of the second week of May. Raven and Miguel were there every step of the way to support him.

"Harder, Nick. Harder." A loud thump could be heard from across the hallway, coming from the training room at the ISA's headquarters. Followed by another, and another.

Raven, dressed in a lighter colored version of her standard agent uniform, was watching her new boyfriend workout on the training bag that they had set up together. Miguel had assigned her to be Nick's personal trainer, helping him reach his full potential again due to the microchip being removed from his system.

Nick ended off the workout with a one-two combo, punching the heavy bag with his wrapped-up fists. "That felt good," he said while removing the boxing-style tape from his hands. He then threw the tape away and walked up to Raven.

She smiled and said, "You're starting to get the hang of hand-to-hand combat," before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, before I forget... Your uncle wants to see you regarding your new agent uniform." Raven then took his hand and led him towards the agency's armory down the hall, next to the weapons room.

"So, this is what your armory looks like," Nick said, taking in the different colored uniforms of retired and current ISA agents that adorned the walls of the room. He then saw his uncle standing next to a cloth covered mannequin. Raven's black and purple agent uniform was right next to it.

Miguel looked up and saw his nephew, saying, "I'm glad you could make it, Agent Santiago," before removing the cloth that covered the mannequin. "Here's your new uniform. I've designed it myself, modeling it after your old one."

Nick walked over to the black and silver uniform, taking note of the major changes from his old look. "Well, it's a totally different look, I'll give you that." He examined the front, seeing the "Delta" insignia stitched onto the right side. A white and blue ISA globe was stitched onto the left shoulder pad. The Santiago/Striker emblem was moved to the left chest pad.

"Pretty cool, innit?" Raven smiled.

"Yeah, but where's–"

"The vest?" Miguel responded. "We don't do that here. All our padding is stitched into the uniform itself. You'll also notice that you've no longer got a helmet."

Raven cleared her throat and said, "Unfortunately, your new weapons are not ready to be used yet. So in the meantime, you'll have to use the stock weapons we have here in the armory." She then turned the mannequin around so Nick could see the back of the uniform, most notably the silver carat symbol designs.

Nick nodded and took a step back. "I could get used to this," he replied.

Just then, an alert flashed onto the screen of Nick's watch: "Blackjack gang members causing trouble at downtown jewelry store."

"It's Blackjack again... I thought we got rid of this guy," Nick groaned in frustration. All he wanted was to spend time with his new girlfriend, but this issue had to come up.

Miguel quickly grabbed a spare all-grey uniform and handed it to him. "Here. Use this one instead."

Nick quickly put the outfit on and rushed out towards the parking lot with the spare escrima sticks and got into the vehicle, along with a couple other agents as they sped onto the 805 freeway towards downtown San Diego.

Meanwhile, the ASO and their newest agent, a perfectly cloned replica of Agent Phoenix, were getting ready to put their master plan into action.

"You know what to do, Phoenix. Kidnap the girl. That will lure Santiago to come and save her. Then, and only then, will we have our revenge and eliminate him once and for all. But we must be cautious: should he return with an army of agents, then await my orders," the commander said.

Phoenix nodded and looked back at his comrades before using a facial recognition module to temporarily change his appearance, becoming Agent Striker for the time being. He then walked out of the facility, a squad of dark-clothed agents behind him.

The agents then climbed into the black SUV and sped off towards the enemy territory.

Back at the ISA HQ, Miguel was watching footage of Nick and his squad take care of the gang members as heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said before turning the tv off.

Screams of pain and sudden gunshots could be heard outside of the commander's office. What the hell is going on? he thought. He opened the door and saw "Striker" and his squad drag Agent Gonzales out of the facility. "Oh, shit..."

"Nick, what the fuck?!" Raven screamed, trying to fight her way out of the situation. "Let me go!"

The agents forcefully stuffed Raven into the van and sedated her as Phoenix's facial recognition feature started to wear off. His red eyes were starting to reappear, as well as the microchip on his wrist. He turned towards the driver's side window and saw Miguel running towards the vehicle as it started to speed off towards their own headquarters.

Miguel was able to mount a tracking device onto the vehicle's back door as it drove off. He then heard another vehicle approaching the parking lot as it headed towards a parking space.

Delta Squad thankfully made it back in one piece and stepped out of the vehicle before making their way towards the main entrance.

To their surprise, a squad of ISA agents encircled them, weapons raised. "Tell us where she is, Santiago," one of the agents said before reaching for a knife on his belt.

Miguel intervened and said, "Guys, Agent Striker wasn't the one that kidnapped Raven. It was a clone of Agent Phoenix. He drove back towards ASO HQ. My guess is they wanted to make us pay for taking their best agent..."

"Commander," Nick said, looking back at his uncle. "If that's the case, then we've gotta plan a course of attack in order to save Raven before it's-"

"I'll take care of that," Miguel interjected before looking at everyone. "Agents... Gear up." At that moment, the alarms were blaring throughout the facility. ISA agents quickly scrambled to retrieve their weapons and gadgets.

Nick felt tears well up his eyes as he sprinted towards the armory and suited up, putting on his new uniform. Don't worry, Raven... I'm coming to rescue you. You and I can finish off Agent Phoenix once and for all, he thought as he slipped on his tactical gloves before walking out of the room.

Meanwhile, in the ISA's conference room, the agents were developing a plan to retrieve their kidnapped comrade.

"Commander, what if we just use the strategy that we applied the last time we attacked them?" an agent suggested, pulling up the blueprints to the facility onto the projection screen behind him. Using a pen, he encircled the possible locations that Nick could enter from.

Miguel nodded and said, "Good idea. Once all the guards near the back entrance huddle towards the main door, Nick could disable the security mechanisms and go off in search of Agent Gonzales."

Just then, Nick entered the room and gave a silent nod of approval towards the plan that the other agents discussed.

"Okay, guys... this mission is now active. Let's go! Everyone get to your vehicles!" Miguel watched as the agents all headed towards the parking lot with a tight grip on their weapons and gadgets.

Nick followed the agents out the door, but then heard a voice call out to him: "Agent Santiago, aren't you forgetting these?" He then quickly turned around.

Miguel came up to him, holding a pair of silver and black escrima sticks, along with a new set of smoke bombs. "Hope you like the new weapons, kiddo." He smiled and led his nephew out to the parking lot, where Delta Squad and a second squad of agents were just climbing into the agency vans.

Nick knew that this was going to be a very personal fight and that he was risking his life to save the one that he loved. It's time for you to pay, Phoenix, he thought while placing the escrima sticks into the holsters on the back of his uniform.

Miguel then led Nick towards the black and blue Ford Mustang as the other vehicles ignited their engines and drove off towards the enemy territory, following the Ford Mustang that led the pack.