A Time To Fight And A Time To Run

Part 2- Grey

Grey looked down the hall to make sure that no one was coming. Swiftly and quietly, he ran into the second room and immediately ducked behind a shelf when he heard voices.

"Take two bazookas then head out with the rest of team. I'll meet up with you in fifteen minutes." Grey recognized that voice the second-in command of the agency, Arsenio Aceves.

"Yes, sir."
Grey stayed hidden until he was sure that both of them were gone, then came out from behind the shelf and ran over to where the weapons were, his backpack making it difficult to stand up and down with ease.

He grabbed a couple guns, one bomb (which he deactivated so that it wouldn't blow up upon feeling movement), and a handful of trackers, then shoved them into a secret pocket he had made in his backpack. If his runaway and rescue was going to work, no one can know about it. Especially his father.

Malin Skyfall was a ruthless leader. No one knew how he got to be that way, and they most likely never would. He wasn't the sharing type. Once he made up his mind that he would take over America, he built his secret agency from the ground up. But during that time, he was informed that his wife was pregnant. He was relieved to have an heir to take over the agency if he ever were to die, but when his wife died in childbirth, it changed him. As ruthless as he was before, he was now ten times moreso. Malin didn't want to take over America, he needed to. And not just America, the world. The only thing standing in his way was another agency whose only job was stop him. With his focus on taking down the agency, he mostly neglected his son, only saying "hello" on his birthday and teaching him how to fight. But he didn't like being with him, anyway. His son looked just like his mother, and he hated to be reminded of her. Grey was mostly raised by a few agents who actually didn't think that it was right for Malin to have abandoned his child.

And now, Grey was leaving. Hopefully for good. He never wanted to be evil, like his father. He was almost completely like his mother: he had her looks, her interests, and most of her personality. The only things he got from his father was his love for action, his smugness, and his jawline. Grey was going to go to a temple just outside of the village of Dry (The Dryans aren't very creative) to find something from a story that his mother had made, hoping to be able to read it to him. It was about a little boy who went on a big adventure to find a gemstone that gave him powers, and Grey needed to see if it was real. Whether it was real or not, after, he was going to go find an aunt whose address that his mother had written down (when he was eleven, he found where his father kept all of his mother's old stuff, and he had found the address at the bottom of one of the boxes), and hopefully stay with her.

He wasn't a child anymore. He was twenty, and now knew everything there was to know about being a spy and the building. He had figured out how to sneak out.

Grey peeked out of the room, and seeing no one, ran down to the end of the hall and turned left.

He heard voices coming down the hall, so he quickly went into the room, then slowly closed the door, not worrying that there could possibly be anyone in there.

He smiled upon seeing the hot air balloon, especially his favorite, the blue, grey, and white one. This agency was filled with weapons and ways of transportation, and hot air balloons was a way of traveling- though a rather unpopular one.

Another reason why no one went in there is because they weren't allowed to. Grey's mother loved hot air balloons, and no one was allowed to use or talk about anything related to his mother- an order from Malin Skyfall himself.

Grey ran over to the wall, where there was a lever. He pulled it, and the roof opened up, then he ran over to the blue hot air balloon (the only one that wasn't the agency's signiture colors- black and red) and jumped in. He took his backpack off and set it on the ground, taking out his cooler with some drinks and food. Then, he turned on the burner, and within a couple seconds, the balloon was beginning to float up. The agency being as advanced as it was, these hot air balloons were able to take off a lot faster than normal ones.

"Sir! Someone opened the roof in the hot air balloon room!" Grey heard someone yell from just outside the room.

I had thought that no one would come in here, and now someone is! I am not prepared at all! Oh, wait, yes I am! Grey grabbed a smoke bomb from his backpack, and dropped it onto the ground as someone burst into the room.

He looked down, and for a split second, made eye contact with who had come in before the bomb let out white smoke that engulfed the room.

Oh crap, Grey thought as the balloon went out of the roof, it closing behind him. Now dad knows that I'm running away.

As much as you'd expect it, no one came after Grey after he left. Or maybe they had, and he was already far enough away to where he didn't even see them. Either way, it was a relief.

He looked back down at the map for the millionth time. He knew that he was headed the right way; in fact, he should be there in just a few minutes. But he couldn't help being worried. He really needed to know if the gem was real- if his mom had somehow discovered it then written a story about it. It was the only thing left of her that wasn't stuck hiding in the agency, and he needed it to be his.

After landing the balloon about fifty feet from the temple (he had excellent aim, and this balloon had an easy landing system), Grey hopped out and looked around. He was there. He was finally there! The first thing he did was eat a bologna sandwich and drink some water (it's important to eat and and stay hydrated!), then he went back out of the balloon and looked at the temple. It looked exactly like the one in the story, which gave him a wave of nostalgia. He had actually brought the book with him, but he remembered every page. He used to read it every night before going to sleep.

Leaning over the edge, he looked through his backpack, trying to find his flashlight. Grey knew that he remembered to bring it- so where was it?

"Ahem."

Who could that be? I'm pretty sure none of the Dryans would have the courage to talk to strange man who came in a strange floating device. He pushed himself off the edge, and was surprised to see a girl who looked about his age, if not a year younger. She had blonde hair in a messy ponytail and hazel eyes. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder, and was wearing a purple tank top and dark grey shorts.

All Grey wanted to do was find the gem, and he didn't need pretty distracting girls stopping him from doing so. "What do you want?", he snapped.

"For you to leave. The people in the village want you to."

What was she trying to pull? And why does she care so much about the Dryans? She's clearly not from here. Wait- why is she here anyway? I need to stay on guard. "Why?"

They continued to argue and question each other, until Grey just finally started walking towards the temple so that he could get started on finding the gem. He couldn't even get her name out of her.

"You're not allowed to dig in there without a permit," the girl called after him.

Grey pulled his permit from his pocket (of course he had thought of everything) then threw it behind him. This random girl was not going to stop him.

He was almost there when he heard her voice say, almost sing-songy, "Hey, Grey!" Grey turned around and saw that the blonde was in his hot air balloon! About to start it!

He tried to get her not to (her terms were ridiculous: not to go into the temple) but she started it up after a glance at the temple.

"No!", Grey yelled, then started running to his balloon. She was not getting away with his balloon.

Being as trained as he was, Grey easily made it over there before it got too far off the ground, then jumped up and pulled himself inside.

Before he could yell at her from trying to steal his hot air balloon, she said, "Seriously?", as if he were the annoying one.

"Seriously me? You're the one who tried to steal my hot air balloon!", he retorted.

"You're the one who was going to dig in the temple!" That's not a good excuse!

"You messed up my whole plan!"

"And you messed up mine!"

Grey glared at her, and she glared right back.

Oh God, please let something happen to where she falls out of the balloon or something. Maybe have a parachute. But I will not survive this!