Double Agent

Chapter 9: Allie

Prison was everything that Allie had expected.

With all of the UA's changes to make the Underground world as different as possible from the past world, they'd done nothing to the prisons. She even got gruel for meals. GRUEL! She snapped at any guards who came close, but that did nothing to keep them away.

When Reina came for her mandatory "prisoner checks" every day, Allie usually refused to talk to her. Secretly, though, Allie wished to talk to Reina--Reina had unusual dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed to have her head in the clouds. She didn't even flinch when Allie occasionally lashed out.

Then, after a week, Allie decided to talk.

"Okay, Reina," Allie said when Reina came back for yet another visit. "We need to talk." "I'm supposed to interrogate you," Reina mumbled distractedly. Either she didn't care about what Allie had said, or she hadn't heard. Judging from the most recent visits, the latter was probably more likely. Allie had no choice but to answer the questions, because the guards moved considerably closer.

"How long have you been in the ASO?" Reina asked, looking like her mind was elsewhere.

"Since the world got taken over."

"Why does the ASO want our photos as well as our files?"

"... I don't know."

"Why did you join the ASO?"

At this, Allie paused. She didn't want to spill the beans about Melanie being her mom. It was one thing that she was certain the UA didn't know...

The guards inched forward, ever so slightly.

Allie lost her temper. She reached through the bars and smacked the one closest to her. The guard stumbled and fell--not so much from the blow as from their surprise. As the guard landed, the helmet they'd been wearing for protection and identity concealment flew off.

Reina gasped and jumped backwards.

Allie gasped and tried to jump backwards, but smacked into the wall.

"Mr. Sancoy!" they said in unison. Allie knew that Mr. Sancoy was an ASO spy, but she didn't know how Reina knew about him. He supposedly was a very secretive man, and didn't even have an ASO file. Reina's eyes darted to the other guards. They both removed their helmets.

One was little Maeve, who could fight twenty-five experienced people at once--and beat them all.

The other was another accomplished spy, Sophie. She was an expert at lock-picking, hacking, and deciphering codes.

As Sophie got to work picking the lock on the cell and Maeve made sure that Reina didn't move, Allie realized that the "guards" had only been moving towards her prison to free her, not to hurt her. Sophie swung the cell door open. "Come on, Allie!" Sophie urged. She was the same age as Allie, but they'd never been on a mission together. Sophie was better at deep undercover missions. Allie had just failed her first one.

Allie quickly got out of the cell. Reina was now fighting Maeve, but she was no match for her. She was on the floor in seconds, awake but groaning. "Take Reina," Mr. Sancoy ordered Sophie. It didn't occur to Allie to ask how he knew her name. But Sophie didn't budge. "That wasn't the mission," she insisted. "We were only supposed to take Allie home. We don't need a prisoner."

"I need this prisoner," Mr. Sancoy hissed at her. Sophie, surprised at the sudden change of mood, stepped back a fraction of an inch. Then she regained her confidence. "If you want to take her, you're doing it," she said defiantly. Then she stalked out of the room--but not before adding, "and I'm not sure that Melanie will approve." Maeve followed, and then Allie. Mr. Sancoy trailed behind, tugging Reina by the leg (rather tightly) with both hands as she tried to upright herself.

They snuck out some secret passage that Maeve had discovered. They reached the hidden ASO tunnel to the upper world with no problem. Now came the hard part: getting through the abandoned world on the surface.

As soon as they emerged from the dark passageway, a robot cat came up to Allie and yowled. Allie jumped back, but the cat kept coming. Mr. Sancoy blew a whistle that, until that moment, Allie hadn't realized he owned. The feline whimpered and slunk away.

However, because he needed one hand to lift the whistle to his mouth, he'd loosened his grip on Reina. She managed to punch his arm, and stood up. Then she went on full-out attack. Reina kicked him in the stomach, and as he hunched over, the whistle flew off of him. The robot and genetically engineered animals drew closer to the spies.

Then Mr. Sancoy did the most cowardly thing ever. He ran.

Maeve and Sophie looked at each other for a moment. Then, they followed him, pursued by a large number of superspeed bats and elephant-sized chickadees.

Allie and Reina looked at each other too. Even though they were surrounded by enemies, the moment still felt awkward. Allie eventually said, "I guess we should fight the animals." Reina agreed, but added, "Don't injure them too badly, though. It's just time and the fact that they're now wild that make them ferocious. We can train them, can't we?" Allie nodded, but both girls knew that was probably going to be impossible.

For the next few minutes, they fought off too many animals to count. Then, Allie and Reina took advantage of the confusion and found a small cave to hide in.

Allie eventually whispered, "I'm sorry." Reina, looking surprised, hesitated for a second. Then, she said, "I'm sorry too."