Mission 3 Part 3

A fancy, sleek limousine drove up to the front gate at the enemy country’s HQ. The guards looked at each other and shrugged; they walked up to the car and motioned for it to stop. One of the guards knocked on the window and the driver rolled it down. The driver took of his incredibly cool-looking sunglasses and smiled. “What’s up?” he said.
The driver was, of course, Ryan Cruise but the guards had no idea. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?” the guard asked.
“Well man, I’m just following orders; you’ll have to ask the general why we’re here, exactly.”
The guards followed the jerk of Ryan’s thumb to the back seat. There was a man dressed in a general’s uniform sitting in between two bodyguards. In reality it was Tim sitting in between Zach and Chris, but the guard didn’t know that. “Well, sir,” the guard said in a little nicer voice. “Do you have an appointment? And can I have a name please, sir?”
“I most certainly do have an appointment,” Tim replied in a Russian accent. “And my name is General Vassili. I’m surprised that the director of HQ himself wasn’t here to welcome me.”
“We weren’t informed that you were visiting, sir,” the guard replied.
“What? Not informed?” Tim nearly exploded. “How can this be?” The bodyguards sitting beside the general remained calm but kept their hands by their weapons.
Meanwhile, Laz was working furiously in a secret compartment beneath the backseat, trying to hack into their computer system.
Tim continued to explode in a mix of Russian and English until Ryan quieted him down.
“Sir, it was a surprise inspection wasn’t it?” Ryan asked, stalling for time.
“No, no it was not. I distinctly remember scheduling an appointment.”
The guard was scrolling through a handheld computer. “Well sir, I’m not seeing an appointment on here…”
“Come on Laz,” Ryan whispered.
“Excuse me?” the guard said.
Ryan coughed. “Uh, I said, ‘don’t be such a spaz’.”
The guard frowned.
Ryan shook his head. “No wait, uh, never mind.”
Suddenly, one of the guards spoke up. “I found it, sir.”
“What?” the other guard asked.
“I found the appointment, sir,” the guard repeated.
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good old Laz.”
Underneath them Laz was breathing a sigh of relief too. “Man that was tough,” Laz whispered to himself. He groaned. “Now I have to go to the bathroom.”
“You can go in now,” the head guard said. “We’ll have some guards escort you into your parking spot and then they’ll clear you for entrance into the facility.”
“Oh goody, goody gumdrops,” Tim replied.
The guard frowned once again. “I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind,” Ryan said. They drove over to the spot that the guards led them to and parked. The two guards opened the door and motioned for them to step out.
“We’re going to have to--” one of the guards began, but he didn’t finish because he was instantly kneed in the stomach and then knocked out by Christophear. The other guard received the same fate from Ryan almost immediately afterward.
As they were hiding the guards in a space that was randomly placed in the garage for hiding bodies, Timothius placed film in front of all the cameras that kept the cameras from spotting them.
“How’d I do?” Timothius asked, talking about his performance at the gate.
“Pretty good,” Ryan said. Then he frowned. “But, ‘goody, goody gumdrops’?”
Tim shrugged sheepishly. “I got a little carried away.”
“I’ll say.” Ryan paused and looked around. “Where’s Laz?”
Zach smacked his forehead. “I think we left him in the secret compartment of the car.”

After they had helped Laz out of the car, the five of them snuck their way into the elevator and up to the entrance.
“I knew you guys were going to forget me in there,” Laz complained. “I’m always forgotten. I was left behind on the motorcycle, in the Imperial Trade Center, and now in that car. I guess it’s just my lot in life, to be left behind.” Laz looked up and noticed that no one was listening to him, but were already way ahead of him. “Hey, wait up.”
“This could get tricky,” Ryan said when they reached the entrance. “We need a code to get in here and a key card.” He pulled a device out of his pack.
“What’re those?” Laz asked.
“Heat-vision goggles,” he replied, putting them on. “They’ll allow me to see which of the keys on this pad are the warmest, which means I’ll be able to tell what the code is.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you were that smart,” Laz said.
Ryan grinned and gave a modest shrug. “I guess I’m just full of surprises.”
“Actually, he isn’t that smart,” Timothius pointed out. “Emmy was the one that told him that.”
“Dang it, Tim, I told you not to tell them that,” Ryan snapped. “Oh, whatever.” He punched in some numbers on the keypad and then swiped the key card that they had taken from one of the guards through the slot. A bunch of green letters appeared on the screen. “Access granted,” it read.
“And we’re in, couldn’t have done it better myself,” Ryan announced.
“But, you did do it yourself,” Laz pointed out.
“Exactly,” Ryan replied. He started to go inside.
“Wait,” Timothius called.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“We can’t just charge in there with no plan at all.”
Ryan stared at him blankly. “Why not?”
“Because, we need assignments. Like, uh, Christophear and Zach, you two stay here and secure our exit.”
“Aw, how come we have to secure the exit?” Zach whined.
“Because, I don’t want to, and neither does Ryan,” Timothius replied.
“What about Laz?” Chris asked.
“Laz is my dopey sidekick,” Ryan said. “No offense, Laz.”
“None taken,” Laz shrugged.
“Where I go, Laz goes,” Ryan continued. We do everything together, we fight together, break into secret buildings together, die together, and even go out… never mind that last part. Anyways, Laz goes.”
“Bias,” Chris muttered.
Timothius just ignored him. “All right then, now let’s go in.”
“Wait,” Laz said, as if something had suddenly dawned on him. “Did Ryan just insult me?”

Ryan, Laz, and Timothius ducked inside the HQ and quickly made note of where the nearest cameras were.
Ryan tossed Timothius a strange looking gun. “Here, point this at the cameras and pull the trigger.”
Timothius obeyed. “What does it do?” he asked.
Ryan was already picking the lock on a door that happened to be nearby. “It jams the cameras for a minute or two, just long enough for us to get in here.” Ryan stopped and pointed at himself. “My idea.”
Timothius rolled his eyes. “Right, who really thought of it? Emmy, or Kayla?”
Ryan sighed. “You never believe me.” The lock on the door clicked and Ryan pushed the door open. “Okay fine, it was Kayla’s idea.”
“I knew it,” Timothius said.
“What room did you just break into?” Laz asked eagerly. “Is it Top-Secret? Is it the director’s office? Something exciting?”
Ryan gave him a look and they stepped inside. “It’s just the janitor’s closet, Laz. Keep your shirt on.” Indeed it was the janitor’s closet, complete with brooms, mops, and other assorted janitorial equipment.
Laz moaned. “Why did we break into the janitor’s closet?”
“Because there’s no alarms,” Ryan replied.
“That’s it?” Laz cried.
“No of course not,” Ryan looked offended. “Do you think I’d do something that dumb?”
Timothius coughed awkwardly after he said this. “Of course not,” he assured him, with only a little bit of sarcasm in his voice.
“We broke in here because this is how we’re going to get into that secret room,” Ryan said.
“How?” Laz asked, still skeptical.
“Through the ventilation system of course,” Ryan said, pointing towards the sealing. There was a large grate there, big enough for a man to crawl into. They quickly removed the grate and placed it on the ground.
“Timothius, you stay here and guard the room,” Ryan ordered.
“Why me?” Timothius asked.
“Because, dopey sidekick, remember?” Ryan pointed to Laz and then crawled up into the opening. Laz tossed Timothius a small earbud. “Here,” he said. “Stick this in your ear.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, because all the cool secret agents have them. Plus, we can keep in touch that way.” Laz pulled himself up into the hole.
Timothius sat down on the ground and sighed. This wasn’t going to be very fun, unless of course, the janitor came by. As he was sitting there, thinking that he’d much rather be crawling through the ventilation system with Ryan and Laz, his phone suddenly started talking to him. Or at least, he thought it was his phone, but he hadn’t brought his phone.
“Hello, Tim?” the voice said. It sounded remarkably like Kayla’s, but Tim couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.
“Let me try,” said another voice that sounded like Emmy’s. “Tim, down here!”
Tim reached into his pockets and pulled out everything he could find. He searched until he found a small, handheld device that looked somewhat like a PDA system. Instead of showing a background however, it showed Emmy’s face.
“Whoa, Emmy!” Tim cried with surprise.

Mission 3: Part 2

After Christophear and Zach pulled Ryan onto the helicopter, they continued on a ways until they touched down at an airport.
“Is this the country?” Laz asked.
Jordan frowned. “No, of course not. This is the airport. You didn’t think we’d fly all the way to the country in the helicopter did you?”
“No, no of course not,” Laz lied unconvincingly.
Jordan led them all to a plane and they strapped themselves into their positions. Jordan sat in the pilot’s seat, and a young lady made herself at home in the co-pilot’s seat.
“This gorgeous young woman is our co-pilot today,” Jordan informed them. “Joy, say hello to my favorite group of secret agents in the world.”
The woman waved to them from the cockpit. “Nice to meet you. Secret agents, huh? What organization?”
“IMF,” Ryan replied, lowering his shades just enough to wink at her.
“IMF, huh? Never heard of it.”
“Yeah, we get that a lot,” Laz replied. “That’s what makes it so secret.”
Jordan started up the plane and they taxied down the runway. Before they knew it, they were airborne.
The ride was rather uneventful except for the constant bickering between all the IMF agents over a card game they were playing. Ryan was constantly shoving aces up his sleeve, which, for some reason, upset the other players. Meanwhile, Tim was stealing other people’s chips from behind their back. This ended in an all out brawl, in which Chris nearly threw everyone out of the plane.
“All of you shut up or I’ll throw you all out of the plane,” Chris bellowed.
Everyone instantly closed their mouths and sat down quietly until Jordan informed them that they were near their destination.
“Agents, we are nearing our destination,” Jordan informed them. “Strap yourselves up.”
The agents instantly grabbed their parachutes and put them on.
“These parachutes are in working condition, right?” Laz asked.
“Of course they are,” Zach replied.
Chris and Tim shrugged. “You never now,” they said in unison.
Ryan shook his head. “It’ll be fine. If you can survive a flaming building then you can survive a HALO jump.”
“Halo?” Laz said, brightening up. “I love that game. But what’s that got to do with jumping out of a plane?”
Timothius shook his head. “Not Halo, HALO. High Altitude Low Opening, that’s how all the secret agents do their jumps. It prevents them from being detected by enemy radars.”
“All right guys,” Joy said, turning around. “There’re a few things you need to know before you jump.” She put up one finger at the beginning of each point, or each paragraph. The first thing you need to do is,
“Strap yourself up, the next thing is to have,
“Patience, you need to wait for the right moment to pull the string, what you want is a,
“Low opening, this will prevent you from being detected.
“Always check out where you’re about to land before you hit the ground, make sure there’s no enemies there. And finally, when you hit the ground,
“Tuck and roll, to prevent an ankle injury.” She stopped and smiled. “Any questions?”
Laz raised his hand. “Yeah is it just me or does that spell SPLAT?”
Joy gave him a questioning look. “What do you mean?”
“I think what he’s trying to say is that the first letter of each point spells out SPLAT,” Chris said.
“Oh,” Joy said. “Never noticed that. Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Well, get ready here’s the spot.”
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Laz said. But before he could protest he was shoved out of the plane. Ryan leaped out after him and all the rest of the agents quickly followed him, every one of them screaming their heads off.

Ryan landed on the ground a while later in a heap. He sprang up from the ground and shook off his parachute. Before he even had time to move though, Zach landed on top of him and knocked him over.
Ryan scrambled up and laughed. “Now, what are the chances--” but before he could finish Tim caoe from above and smashed into him. Ryan jumped up again. “Geez, how unlucky can a guy get?” As soon as he finished the question Christophear followed and sent him flying. “Would you people stop landing on me please?” Ryan yelled. “Where’s Laz?”
“I’m up here,” came a distraught voice. “Anyone wanna help me down?” They all looked up and saw Laz, hanging from a tree.
Ryan sighed. “Of course he got stuck in a tree.”

After they helped Laz out of the tree, the team crept along until they reached the outer fence of the enemy HQ. The top of the fence was lined with barbed wire and there were guard towers with spotlights positioned along the fence line. There was only one gate, which was guarded by four men, all armed with sub-machine guns. Inside the gate were several more guards patrolling the premises.
“This next part could be a little tricky,” Ryan said.
“‘A little tricky’?” Laz hissed. “That’s gotta be the understatement of the year. Crap, there’s gotta be almost forty guards in there.”
“Forty-five,” Ryan corrected him.
“Still, he’s got a point, that’s a lot of guys,” Zach pointed out.
“True, but I’ve got the perfect diversion,” Ryan said confidently. He pulled a few uniforms out of his pack. “Here, put these on.” He tossed them at the other agents.
Timothius looked at the uniform, it looked like it belonged to a general. “Cruise, what are we doing?”
Ryan grinned. “How good are you at acting?”

Ryan led them back down the road a ways where they found a black limo hidden in the bushes.
“Where’d this come from?” Laz asked, bewildered.
“I did a little planning ahead,” Ryan replied smugly, tapping his head with his finger.
“Yeah, but how’d you get it here?” Christophear asked.
Ryan opened his mouth to explain but then stopped. “I’m not exactly sure.” He rolled his eyes and started to uncover the care. “Oh, who cares? Just put on the uniforms and get in.”
“So what are we doing? This wasn’t in the plan,” Zach said as he was getting dressed.
“The emperor’s plan involved us getting shot full of holes,” Ryan replied. “This plan gets us in and out alive, hopefully.”
“What is the plan?” Timothius pressed.
Ryan folded his arms and grinned. “We all get in this limo and drive up to the gate. I’ll be the driver, Zach and Chris will be the bodyguards and Tim is the general.”
“General?” Timothius exclaimed.
“Yeah, the general who’s scheduled to come here for an inspection,” Ryan replied.
“What do I do?” Laz asked.
“You hack into their computer records and create an appointment for General Vassili,” Ryan ordered.
“Who’s General Vassili?” Laz asked.
“That would be Tim,” Ryan said. “Now, anymore questions?”
They all shook their heads.
“All right, let’s move....

Mission 3 Part 1

“So,” Timothius asked as he walked with Ryan to the motorcycle. “What’s this one about?”
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. The emperor just said he’d need us on this one, Kayla to.”
Tim sighed. “Well okay, if you say so.” He got into his car along with Kayla and followed Ryan. When they got to the palace they hopped out and walked up to the large front gate. Ryan presented his ID. “We’re IMF,” he explained to the guard at the gate.
“You’re what?” the guard asked.
“Exactly,” Ryan replied. “Just keep it that way.”
Just then, Laz came running up to them. “Ryan, pant, the next time, pant, you make me run, pant, all the way here, wheeze, I’m going to kill you.”
“Hey,” Ryan threw up his hands and pointed to Emmy. “She needed a ride.”
“Well maybe next time I won’t let you ride on my motorcycle,” Laz shot back.
Ryan shook his head. “Laz, you don’t have a motorcycle.”
“So,” Laz retorted. “That’s not the point.”
“All right,” the guard said, hanging up a phone on the wall by the gate. “The emperor has told me to clear you. After you all pass a thumb print test, and an eye retina scan.”
Timothius shrugged. “Of course.”
“By the way,” the guard continued. “He also said you’re late.”

When they arrived at the emperor’s office the others were already there.
“Finally,” Jordan said.
Cathy, Christophear, Zach, and Shelleroo, also known as Michelle, all greeted them with nods. (Note: Shelleroo, or Shelly, or whatever has been changed to Michelle permanently due to the many complaints that have been made about the “funkiness” of her name. We apologize for any irritation and admit that it was a very funky name. We also want to say, it was all Oyi and Clari’s fault! Just kidding.)
“So,” Ryan ventured, flopping down on a sofa. “What’s new?”
Just then, the chair at the emperor’s desk that had appeared to be empty whirled around to face them, revealing the emperor. “You’re late,” he said, frowning.
Ryan gave his trademark grin. “Fashionably late.”
The emperor glared at him, then that glare started to fade away and slowly became a smile. “You’re right,” he shrugged. “Let’s get down to businesses then.” He paused and looked them over. “I’ll only be choosing some of you to go on this mission.”
“Then how come you made us all come here?” Laz asked.
The emperor glared at Laz, who shrunk back in his seat. “I’m only picking some of you,” he continued. “Because it wouldn’t make sense to send you all. Not because I think any of you are better than the others.”
“Why doesn’t it make sense to send all of us?” Ryan asked.
“Because we don’t need to risk losing all of IMF on one mission,” the emperor replied matter-of-factly.
“Say,” Ryan said suspiciously. “This isn’t a suicide mission or anything. Is it?”
The emperor hesitated. “No, no, of course not.”
“Okay, good, because I wouldn’t want to go on any suicide mission,” Ryan sighed in relief.
Timothius just stared at the emperor. That slight pause was more than enough to send warning bells off in his head. Was the emperor telling the truth? He doubted it.
“First of all,” began the emperor. “Cruise, you’re point man, as usual.”
Ryan gave smug look and leaned back in his chair. “Of course.”
“Laz,” the emperor continued. “You’ll be going with him.”
Laz pumped his fist and gave Ryan a high five. “All right.”
“Christophear and Zac, you’ll join them as well.” The emperor paused and looked at Timothius. “And Timothius, pack your bags, you’re going too.”
“Is that it?” Ryan asked.
“Yes,” the emperor replied. “Kayla and some others will stay here and keep in contact with you. If the objective changes at all, she’ll let you know.”
“All right,” Ryan clapped his hands together. “Guys night out.”
“Excuse me,” Timothius raised his hand. “What is the objective?”
The emperor held up his hand and tapped a folder on his desk. “I’m getting to that.” He opened the folder and started reading. “Apparently, a dangerous villain, known as Q--”
“What’s with all these one letter villain names?” Ryan mumbled.
“Known as Q,” the emperor continued. “Has been smuggling TNW’s into an enemy country. His ultimate objective is to use those TNW’s against the Touché Empire. Your mission if you choose to accept it is to intercept those TNW’s and destroy them before they reach their destination. Bring back Q, alive. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Ryan raised his hand. “How do we know that Q is a he? Is Q a guy’s name or a girl’s name?”
The emperor sighed and ignored the question. “Any others?”
“Yes,” Laz raised his hand. “What country are we talking about?”
“You know,” Ryan said. “The enemy country.”
“Yeah, but what country?”
Ryan leaned over and whispered the name into Laz’s ear. “Oh,” Laz said, nodding. Then he frowned. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“Because,” Ryan replied matter-of-factly, “It would offend the other country.”
Laz just gave him a confused look.
The emperor sighed and threw up his hands. “I swear, if you two weren’t so good at completing missions against all odds, including yourself, I’d have you both thrown out of IMF. Now Jordan will be providing you with transportation. Once there, you are on your own. If you are caught, the Touché government will disavow you, and deny all knowledge of your mission or that you were ever working for us. Is that clear?”
“Crystal,” they replied.
“Ryan,” the emperor motioned for Ryan to come up. “Explain to them what exactly will have to be done to recover the location of the TNW’s”
“Okay boss,” Ryan replied. “First of all, once we get into the opposing country, we’ll have to lie low for a while. Once we’re sure that no one’s seen us, we’ll make our way to their SHP--”
Laz raised his hand. “What’s their SHP?”
“Their Secret Hiding Place,” Ryan replied smartly.
“Also known as their Head Quarters or HQ,” Tim said, a little annoyed.
“Whatever,” Ryan shook it off. “Inside their SHP is all the information about all of their secret plans, including the whereabouts of the TNW’s. We’ll have to get inside the building without setting off any alarms and find a way into the Top Secret Information room. This room is very special, because it has all kinds of high tech booby traps. The floors are weight sensitive, any unauthorized weight inside the room and it sets the alarm off. Also, any noise louder than a whisper will trigger the alarm.”
“Are you serious?” Zach asked, unbelieving.
“No not really,” Ryan admitted. “I got a little carried away there, but still the alarms are pretty state of the art. Not to mention there’s about a million guards, and the hallways are decked out with cameras. Plus, there’s code you have to use to get into the room, which we don’t have. And a key card used to get past security, which we don’t have. Oh, and don’t forget, we don’t even have clearance to get into the building period, let alone within twenty miles from it. Did I leave anything out?”
“Yeah,” the emperor replied. “There’s a laser beam that has to be deactivated before you can get into the hallway that contains the secret room.”
“Oh yeah,” Ryan said. “I forgot about that. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Kayla said, turning to the emperor. “You said something about this not being a suicide mission?”
“Seriously,” Tim agreed. “Sounds pretty impossible to me.”
“Hey man,” Chris quipped. “Its what we do.”
“Exactly,” the emperor nodded. “And that’s why I’ve picked you five. Now is there anyone who wants to back out?” He gave them a look that meant business.
They all shook their heads no.
“All right then, move out.”

Ryan, Timothius, Emmy, and Kayla were standing outside the helicopter, their hair flying in the wind from the whirling blades.
“Well,” Timothius said. “I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said. “I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted. Just take care of yourself.”
“I will,” Timothius promised.
“Remember, Ryan,” Emmy said. “Don’t let them catch you, or…” she trailed off, unable to finish.
“Hey,” Ryan said confidently. “I’ll be back, you just make sure you’re still here.”
“I will,” Emmy replied. She hugged him. “Just don’t get caught,” she said, choking down tears. Emmy loosened her embrace and stepped back. “Guess you guys better get going, be careful.”
“Hey, you two,” Jordan shouted. “I’m leaving. Get in or you’ll be walking.”
Timothius waved to Kayla and climbed in. “Be careful, all of you,” Kayla said to Ryan as he turned towards the helicopter.
“Don’t worry,” Ryan replied, casually slipping on some shades. “We’ll be fine. What could go wrong?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Kayla whispered. Emmy nodded in agreement.
Ryan faced the helicopter and took a running leap at it. This time he caught the edge of it as it took off. “Ha, ha,” he yelled. “I did it!” Ryan tried to pull himself up, but to no avail. “Now what?”

To be continued...