Penny:
The elevator dinged for the top floor and I stepped out. With my fists clenched at my sides I made my way toward the boardroom.
The only noise I could hear was the sound of my own two footsteps. The quiet was unbearable.
I stopped before the great steel doors and pressed my finger into the scanner. The room was soundproof to ensure confidentiality, so they could be raising a storm in there and I wouldn't know it.
The doors opened when it identified me and I stepped inside to the sound of an angry clusterfuck of leaders.
Chief Quimby sat at the head of a large table, each chair occupied by a different leader. When he saw me come in, he stood up and made the room fall into a deadly silence.
"Agent Penny. Please take a seat." He said and beckoned to the other end of the table, where a single chair waited. I nodded and sat down. I looked around at the faces and spotted uncle Gadget, sitting three chairs away from me.
He was fiddling with his fingers, his eyes downcast and sullen. Another leader stood up and cleared his throat, holding up a notebook as if he were sentencing me to death.
"Now, Penny, you've been summoned here today to discuss your actions and relationship to the enemy agent, Talon Claw."
"Sir, with all due respect-"
"You allegedly broke into an enemy lair with no weapon and no backup, with no plan of escape. Do you deny it?"
"No sir."
"And you forged a romantic relationship with an enemy, while fully knowing the consequences it may bring. Do you deny it?"
"With all due respect sir, we were under a truce and swore to confidentiality."
"I said, do you deny it?"
"No, but-"
"Then I see no further reason to listen to you, Agent. These actions that I expect nothing less from a teenage girl, are bordering on treason, and you still want to defend this boy?"
"Yes."
The room rippled with murmurs of disapproval. Quimby called for silence.
"Permission to speak, sir?" I asked.
"Granted."
"You've got this all wrong. We fell in love, not because we wanted to commit treason or share confidential secrets. We fell in love because we had no control over it.
We saw past a century old fight and into a future where there's nothing to fight about. The only problem is that Doctor Claw is beyond saving. Talon can still be saved.
If you want to win the war once and for all, Talon is a necessary asset. He knows far more than any other agent in that base and can know the way to defeat Claw once and for all. He is on our side, ladies and gentlemen. It's time you understand that."
"Are you proposing a rescue mission?" One man inquired.
"I am insisting upon it."
"While we're already exposed? Your honor I must object that it's madness!"
"Over ridden and dismissed. Continue."
"You know very well that I'm your best agent. You know that when you give me a mission, I get the job done. Let me organise a rescue opp, minimal team members. Easy in, easy out."
"Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that we follow through with this rescue opp. Once he is within our borders, the boy will stand trial."
I shook my head. "Please don't, Sir. He's been through enough."
"Nevertheless, he must be held responsible for his actions."
"He was only following orders! If you had seen how he looked when I was in there... he took a bullet and a beating for my sake, sir!"
Quimby was looking more agitated by the minute. He was conflicted, which means that I was getting somewhere.
"Gadget, what do you think?" He asked finally, and my uncle looked up for the first time.
He looked over every face, reading their expressions, until he stopped at mine. I stared at him, unwavering, and we had a conversation without words.
He was upset that I didn't tell him about the relationship. I felt guilty for keeping it from him, but I just didn't know who to trust.
"Gentlemen, in all my life I have never known someone as true and honest as my dear niece. I trust Penny with every knot and fibre in my being. If she truly believes that he's worth a rescue mission, then I believe her."
Quimby nodded in confirmation. "Very well. Agent Penny, I leave the organisation and team selection of the operation to you, you are dismissed. Good luck."
YOU ARE READING
Love thy enemy (Talenny)
Romansa"Don't you see? We can't be together. Our families, our motives, our destinies are polar opposites. We were born with a fate that keeps us apart." "To hell with fate! All I know is that my heart speaks true, Pen. We're meant to be together, despite...
