Spy Kids 3: AU

1.

Leaving the OSS wasn't the easiest decision to make, Juni decided. The 15 year old girl had been disregarded and disrespected but the organization far too many times for her employment there to continue, but she had to admit, life was a lot less exciting now that she was no longer a spy kid.

She began work as a P. I., her clients mostly being little kids with silly problems. For that her fee was 7 dollars. She couldn't charge them too much, after all.

Her current client was a young girl, around ten years old, who needed her to investigate her water park.

The problem? There was no water.

She met the girl in front of the gates to the park. The wind tugging at the tan coat she wore, threatening to pull her hair out of the Machete Band tying her red curls back.

"I know why there's no water," She said.

"Pray tell," The girl replied. Juni smiled at the girl, raising one eyebrow.

"They shut down the water in the winter."

"Who's 'they'?"

"The people who really own this park," She said dramatically.

The girl seemed surprised at that, but handed the 7 dollars over anyway. Juni chuckled and pat the girl on the head before tucking the money away and leaving.

On her way home, Juni took a detour into shopping district, passing by a game shop.

The shop had a line going out the door, with nearly all of the customers being children holding plastic piggy banks. Juni starred, confused. She walked up the kid in the back of the line and got his attention.

"Hey, what's the line about?"

"Haven't you heard? Game Over goes online at midnight tonight! They started selling copies this morning."

Juni nodded at the kid in appreciation before taking a step back the get a better look at the store.

A large poster for the game Game Over was plastered in the window.

How did I miss that?

Juni didn't game much herself, any more. When she was younger she was practically addicted to games. As she grew, her work got in the way. When she resigned she was too old to be spending all of her time on virtual reality rather than reality itself.

Shaking her head, Juni turned and continued on her walk.

--

When the elevator opened, Juni walked out into the main part of the Cortez's treehouse. She went to sit at her desk, but found a wooden box sitting in front of her.

She grabbed the note, and it triggered something on the box, the walls of it retracting to reveal a bowl of 2 mini sharks swimming in water.

The note said that the sharks were a gift from Romero, an old friend. Juni stuck two of her fingers in the bowl to tease the sharks, pulling them out as they jumped to bite them.

Giggling, she moved the bowl to a shelf further in the treehouse.

Seconds later, the window in front of her desk retracted, letting in her friend Gerti Giggles. Smiling, Juni poured a drink for her unexpected guest.

"Hey, Gerti."

"Hey juni. What've you been up to?" She asked, accepting the drink.

"Not much, just solving little kid problems. This morning I had to tell a little girl that the water park she liked was closed because it's winter," Juni sighed.

Gerti shook her head good-naturedly.

"Where is everyone?"

"Working. They're all busy on their own assignments," Juni said bitterly. Nobody had time for her any more.

But that was her own fault, wasn't it?

"I haven't even seen Carmen since last Christmas."

"Really? But she's your twin sister."

Juni shrugged with a frown.

"You know, you'd see them a lot more if you came back to the OSS."

Juni scoffed. "Right. So I can be undermined and passed over again? So everyone else can take credit for my achievements again? So they can use me again?"

Gerti sighed and placed her cup back down. "You know that's not what I mean."

"No, but it's what's going to happen." Juni rolled her eyes. "The only thing there for me is my family."

"It's good to take care of your family. But you need to remember, everyone is your family." Gerti said, looking the older girl in the eyes.

Her bracelet beeped, and she stood up. "Bye, Juni." Her twin tails twirled and carried her out of the window where she came.

Juni held her hand out and her small robot Ralph climbed onto her hand.

"What do you think she meant by that, boy?"

A patriotic tune played and the window became a screen. The screen played a video call with the former president of the OSS and current US President.

"Mr. President. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Juni asked sarcastically.

Devlin took the black censor bar off of his face and smiled at her. "It's good to talk to you, Agent Cortez. You know you can call me Devlin."

"Drop the pleasantries. I'm not an agent, what do you want?"

Devlin frowned, serious. "Once an agent, always an agent. You of all people should know that, given who your parents are. You need to reinstate."

Juni rolled her eyes and lifted Ralph into her shoulder, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Nothing you say can convince me to come back."

Devlin sat up straight in comparison to his previously slouched posture.

"Carmen is missing."