There was walking. Oh, there was so much walking, but how about I skip the part where Sandy was singing the entire way and just flip to our new destination?
Clyde face-palms himself harshly. "This should've been so predictable."
I throw away the wrapper of a power bar I had eaten on the way here. "The Salem Witch Museum?" I ask, mouth still full of food, "Yeah, I guess we should've seen that coming."
Sandy turns to me. "Did that power bar help with your fatigue?"
"Of course. It's an Ispio product, engineered to give more enhanced energy during consumption. It also has a great taste."
He snickers, "I love it when you sound like you're in a commercial."
"So," Clyde asks, "do we just head on inside?"
Sandy looks at the front door, then at the empty parking lot. "Well, it closes at 17:00 hours and it's already 19:27."
Clyde places his hand on my shoulder gently. "It's a simple lock, think you can get us inside?"
His warm breath passes my ear, and I get a chill running down my spine. "Of course, babe--I mean Clyde!"
I unlock the door with my eyes closed just to show off. It's dark inside, but there are still a few lights on for the morning crew to see when they come in. The place is well taken care of, there aren't even cobwebs in the high corners of the ceilings. We all bumble inside, Sandy almost immediately finding a bench to sit on. Clyde looks around the place the same way I do, judging its interior to track down the possible trail.
"Sandy," Clyde barks, "is this the place where they're keeping our agents?"
He pushes his glasses up. "It very well might be. I know that they're not at our sanctuary, otherwise, I would've seen them. It's a very tight circle that has them, kinda like a coven within the coven. Even more secretive."
"Oh boy, sounds like some hefty paperwork," I say.
"For Jack and Abby," Clyde says. "We will find them, we have to. And then they can finish their mission."
"Of course! Now let's sniff out their trail."
We leave Sandy sitting on the bench. I think we've spent enough time with him to assure ourselves he won't run away, he's lazy physically. Instead of splitting up to cover more ground, I tag along with Clyde in a single path.
As we walk together, I can't help but think of something. "Clyde, I know it's just natural to care for someone in danger, but this whole mission seems a bit...personal. Why do you care so much about these agents?"
Even in the dim light, I can still see his cute smirk. "Is it that obvious?" he asks.
"Mm-hmm."
His adorable smile fades and is replaced with his usual stoic expression. "I...I knew Jack and Abby."
I scratch my head. "You knew them? How? When did you ever meet them?"
"I didn't officially meet them, not as an agent anyway," he says, his eyes falling to the floor. "When I was a child, they saved me."
"What?" I ask much louder than I wanted to. I drop my voice to a whisper, "I mean: what? Were you part of some conspiracy or something? How'd they save you?"
He rubs his arm, probably feeling sheepish about the whole thing. "No, it wasn't like that. They were probably dispatched in the area for a case, they didn't show up just for me. I was just in trouble and they were nearby luckily."
"Unbelievable. This all sounds like a movie scene."
His white teeth come back as he smirks again. "Yeah, I guess so. They saved my family from a band of thugs, I think they were trying to take my dad."
I tap my finger on the tip of my muzzle. "Do you know why they were trying to steal your dad?"
He shakes his head. "Nope. Doesn't matter either...he died when I was thirteen anyway. Heart problems."
I put my hand on his arm. "Oh Clyde, I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," he says, then plants a kiss on the top of my head. "You know, Jack and Abby were the reason why I joined up with Ispio. It took a lot of work, but I tracked Adams down and hounded her for a job."
"You sniffed out Ispio's trail? That's impressive. I already knew Adams, she came looking for me when she got the job for Quadrant Chairman."
Clyde chuckles softly, "Actually, Jack is the reason why I look like this. The muscles, I mean. He was kinda impressive back in the day. I wanted to be just like him when I became an agent."
I squeeze his arm playfully and say in a childish fashion, "Aw, did you have a crush on Jack when you were little?"
He throws his head back in laughter, "Ha! Well, going back to that memory, he was pretty handsome, but my fondness for him is mostly gratitude for saving me and my folks."
I let go of him and stretch my arms above my head. My body feels rundown, but mentally I'm adequate. "So, this is why you accepted the mission. It's why you're so desperate to find them, and possibly the only explanation that you'd let a criminal help us. I really do hope this has a happy ending."
He stops walking and grabs me by the arms, his brown eyes glowing with passion. "We have to find them, Troy. They deserve to live. They're good people. I can pay them back for saving me. Then we can officially meet them. Maybe they'll even remember me. And--And I can get an autograph, and a high-five or something."
Shocked by his abrupt actions and strange words, I remain still in his grip. "Woah! Okay, okay we'll find them. You don't have to squeeze so hard."
He lets go, frazzled at his own uncontrolled movements. "Sorry, I didn't mean--"
"It's okay, babe, you just got excited is all. You wanna treat? A belly rub? Who's a good doggy?"
He flicks my snout. "Stop it, you know I don't like those jokes."
I rub my nose. "Hehehe, sorry."
We keep walking down the hallway, nothing of interest popping up for some time. I stumble over some excess curtains hanging off the walls and scuttling on the floor. It's a strange place to hang random curtains, and it doesn't even fit well with the rest of the interior theme. I slide it out of the way, revealing a blank wall behind it.
"Is this suspicious to you?" I ask.
Clyde looks at the wall, his eyes narrowing in focus. "I don't see anything wrong. It's just a curtain for decoration."
I run my hand over the wall, expecting to feel a blemish somewhere. I'm proven right as my hand caresses a bump in the wall. It's a whole indentation that runs up and down the wall like a doorway. I trace it all over, figuring out the size of it. When I have my answer, I place my finger on where I think the middle is.
"Can you kick it right here?" I ask, standing back for Clyde.
He stretches his back by turning in place, then slams his foot into the middle of the wall. The whole thing breaks off in a perfect rectangle, meaning that the hole was intended for passage.
"This definitely leads somewhere," Clyde comments, "we should go get Sandy."
"On it."
I travel back to where we last left Sandy, who was still sitting there reading a book in the dim lighting. "You know what I don't get," he says upon seeing me, "why is it called Skirted Spies if only one spy wears the skirts?"
I shake my head. "I don't know what that is. C'mon, we found something while you were sitting down doing nothing."
He puts the book away and stands up. "Harsh."
I take him to the hole where Clyde was still waiting. "Do you recognize this?"
Sandy pretends to focus intently. "Hmm...nope. Never seen this before."
"Are you being sarcastic? I honestly can't tell."
"I'm not being sarcastic, promise. I've never seen this before ever."
Clyde leans against the wall. "So that matches the factor of you not knowing where they took the agents?"
"Yuppers," he says cheerfully, "that's one thing right out of the many possibilities." He looks deeper inside the hole, "Looks extremely dark in there. Pretty sure I've got a spell for that."
I step in front of him. "So do we," I say, pulling out my compact flashlight and turning it on, "Abra-cadabra."
He crosses his arms. "Whatever. Ladies first."
"With pleasure."
All three of us walk in a line descending the stairs, me in the front and Clyde in the back. Soon we reach the point where the light from where we came was lost, just the flashlight pointing forward was the only source of comfort. The cramped staircase is starting to make me feel nervous just thinking about an attack coming from the front or back, and we've got nowhere to go.
"Spooky," Sandy comments, poking me in the sides and taking delight in watching me jump.
"Seriously? Don't joke like that!" I shout.
"Knock it off, you two," Clyde commands, "we're trying to not get caught, remember?"
"Aye," we both say in unison.
With the horseplay cut short, we pick up the pace and hit the bottom in about three minutes. The walls separate, giving us some much-needed elbow room. There's still no light anywhere, and the compact flashlight doesn't provide that much for a bigger room. Suddenly the room becomes slightly illuminated by a soft blue light. I turn behind me to see Sandy standing there with a ball of energy hanging above him.
"Pretty cool, huh?" he asks, pointing up at his masterpiece.
"That's already a gadget that we have," I mock, albeit unable to back that claim up because I didn't bring said gadget.
"Whatever, you're just jealous."
"Ominous," Clyde states as he walks passed us towards a door with dim light coming through the crack underneath. "What do you think is behind Door #1?"
Without any of us answering, Clyde swiftly closes in on the door, locks his hand on the knob, and pulls it open. Light pours into the darkness, feebly chasing it away with what little presence it has. Inside, the room is dim and feels weak in aura, like a broken spirit lingering about. Standing limp and dangling from chains connected to the ceiling was the figure of a muscled cheetah; the shadows keep his details from our sight.
Clyde sprints towards the hanging man while Sandy and I follow closely. We circle him, finding out that he's currently unconscious. Clyde gently pats the cheetah's face and tells him, "Wake up," repeatedly. It takes a few tries, but the cheetah's eyes open and dart between the three of us.
"Jack?" Clyde asks.
Jack rolls his neck in a circle and smacks his dry lips together. "No more. Kill me. Just kill me." Being closer lets us see the many gashes and cuts all around his body, and his face is beaten to a pulp.
"We're from Ispio," I say, "we're gonna get you outta here. Promise."
"Ispio...? You're kidding." His eyes go back to Sandy, "What trick are you trying to pull? I remember you."
"No," Clyde says, "he's with us. Well, he's our prisoner."
"Prisoner? What's going on? Who are you?"
A bright smile curls on Clyde's face. "Actually, we've met before. I'm a huge fan, sir. You pushed me to be the very best agent I could be."
I tug on Clyde's sleeve, "Clyde, now's not the best time to fan-girl." I turn to Jack, "Where's Abby?"
Jack looks at me confused, "Abby? My partner?"
"Focus, Jack, where is Abby? Where's Abigail?"
His fatigued body gets a sudden jolt of adrenaline as he fights his chains to break free. "Abby! Cut me loose, I need to get her!"
Clyde begins to undo the first wrist. "Take it easy, sir, you're badly wounded. You're in no condition to fight. Tells us where Abby is, we'll get her."
The first bind is broken, and Jack undoes the second one himself. He falls to the ground breathing heavily, and some of his present gashes start to bleed again. He grunts and moans trying to stand up, but he makes it without collapsing. He awkwardly wobbles his way to the back of the room, but we let him take charge. It's his partner, there's no surprise that he'd go through Hell and back for her.
He throws his battered body at a wooden door that was covered in shadows. He falls through with a loud Smash! and cries in pain as he hits the floor with the door in pieces under him. A voice shrieks in surprise, feminine by the sound of the pitch.
"Jack!" the voice cries, perking our ears up and driving us towards it. Clyde bends down to help Jack back to his feet, but I skip past them both and enter an even darker room. There is a table standing upright at a slight angle with a tiny rabbit strapped to it in an X formation. There's no doubt it's Abby as I lay eyes on her face, the same face from the picture, except more terrified and desperate. Unlike Jack, she's not ready to die.
"Abby!" Jack calls while stumbling up to his feet. He grits his teeth and bears the pain as he pushes up fully erect and limps his way to his whimpering partner. I step out of the way and let him undo the shackles himself. As he unclasps the last cuff, she falls into his arms, her body limp and her tears flowing heavily. "It's okay," he whispers to her, "I gotcha."
There's a moment of silence for the two, and only Abby's heart-wrenching sobbing can be heard. Just listening to it while watching her cling to Jack puts me in a state of depression. I can't even begin to understand the torture they must've been put through.
I decide to break up the reunion first. "Guys, we should get going now while we have the chance."
They both look at me, eyes full of anguish, and nod. We're moving even slower now with both Jack and Abby injured greatly, but they seem content with supporting each other instead of having one of us do it. Sandy is taking the lead with Clyde behind him, Jack and Abby in the middle, and me watching our backs. Sandy makes it through the door to lead back up to the museum, but before Clyde could follow, it slams shut in his face.
"Sandy!" he shouts, banging his fist on the paneling and shaking the now locked door knob. He throws many kicks at it, but it doesn't budge. It's only wooden, and Clyde has gotten through metal before. It must be another trick.
"They know we're trying to leave," shouts Abby, "we're gonna be punished!"
"No, you're not," I say, "we're gonna get outta here together."
Clyde continues to call out to Sandy as he beats on the door, but it seems more and more useless as he tries. There is no response from Sandy, and I fear that my thought of betrayal has come true at this very moment. Now they've got four agents to test on rather than two.
"Troy," Clyde calls to me, "get over here and see if you can unlock it."
I get to the knob and dive my nail into the lock, but it makes a ting and bounces off the surface. The hole just disappeared in front of my eyes, and now there's no way to unlock it or break it down. This situation only gets worse when we all hear a subtle hissing sound coming from behind us.
"Gas!" Jack shouts. We all turn our heads to see a massive cloud of dense gas being released into the room. Jack and Abby hobble their way over to us to get further from it, but it's approaching fast.
"We didn't bring masks for this mission," Abby tells us, "what do you two have?"
Clyde and I look at each other, both knowing that none of our gadgets are going to help us out of this one. The only thing I can think of is the explosions we're carrying to try and blast the door, but we don't know if this gas is flammable.
"Nothing?" Jack asks, mostly for validation. He already knows the answer. He sinks his head down and grips Abby tighter. Abby does so in return. Clyde and I hold hands and lean against the door together.
"Don't think we're getting out of this one," I tell him.
He sighs heavily, "I couldn't do it, Troy. I couldn't save them like I promised."
I squeeze his hand tighter. "You did your best, nobody can ask for more."
"I'm squad leader, it's my job to do the impossible. It's my job to keep you safe."
I feel a tear in my eye. "And you did. You did such a good job, Clyde. You really did."
His voice shakes as he speaks, "I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of failure, Troy. I let a lot of people down today, but what's worse is that I let you down. I'm sorry."
I say nothing, I just keep holding his hand, and sob quietly.
"Troy, look!" He shouts, pointing at Jack and Abby.
Both are encased in a bubble of blue light. Their eyes are wide in astonishment, darting back and forth, but never brave enough to touch it. Soon Clyde and I are in our own bubble getting drawn toward Jack and Abby's. We merge together, there's a loud whirring sound, and then a bright light overtakes our vision. It doesn't take long for it to come back; we're all standing in the room where we found the first door, and the stairs to the museum are right behind us. No gas either.
"What just happened?" I ask.
"Sandy," Clyde says, "Sandy happened."
There's a very feverish cough happening just to the side of us. Sandy's body lays flat and quivering, and I can tell from here his skin is not the same color as before. He's pale and looks to be dying. Clyde and I rush over to his body, confident Jack and Abby are doing fine.
I bend down and cradle his head. His face is different too, not exactly older, but malnourished instead, his skin sinking down to show his bones underneath. "Sandy, what's wrong? What did you do?"
More dry coughing before he answers, "Teleported you guys. Traded life force to substitute mana...dying."
"Dying?" Clyde asks, bending over him the same way I am. "No no no, there's no dying today. What do you need? What do we have to do to save you? You need food? Water? Blood? Maybe you need your mana? Take mine, you said I had a lot. Take it."
He extends his bony hand towards Clyde. "All the above. Don't wanna die. Lemme leach, Clyde."
Clyde gives him his hand and the effects take place immediately, another bright light and some streaming aura. Sandy still looks the same though. "Thank you," Sandy says before closing his eyes and resuming steady breathing.
Clyde looks at me. "We need to take him to Doctor Nivans."
"If we do, they'll lock him up afterward. He was one of the people that kidnapped Jack and Abby. I wanna save him as much as you do, but you know a small cell awaits him."
"We can pardon it," he says desperately, "he helped us complete the rescue mission and saved four agents today. That's got to count for something, Troy."
I look down at Sandy's sunken face again. I don't know if what Clyde gave him would be enough to sustain him, and there's the other threat that he betrayed his coven and they'll likely be after him. "Okay, we'll take him to Doctor Nivans."
*** *** ***
The first stop was our H.Q. to drop off Sandy at the good doctor's. We didn't give an explanation, just asked Nivans to help him. Next, we flew to Jack and Abby's quadrant to complete the mission we were first given. The two agents are recovering in their own medical bay and are having their bio-connection to their gadgets terminated, they'll later talk when they're up for it. For now, it's just Clyde and me in Marston's office.
Marston pours three shot glasses of his high-quality whiskey for the small celebration he's throwing. "I knew it! I knew you boys were the best of the best. You got my agents back in one piece, or almost one piece. They'll be seeing the therapist soon, but they're tough, they'll pull through."
Clyde smacks his lips together as he picks up his glass. "That's good news, sir. I'm glad we could be of service for such fine agents." Down the hatch, smooth and doesn't make a face.
I pick up my glass, not so excited about the taste as my partner is. "Thank you, sir." Bottoms up, my nose, eyes, and throat burn, and I'm sure I make a silly face. "If I could just piggyback on these good vibes, there's a favor I want to ask of you. You see, there was this guy who was a tremendous help to the mission, and he just so happens to be one of the people that--uh...was on the wrong side of the team."
Marston takes his glass, his smile already gone.
Come on, Troy, use your charm.
I continue, "He's currently in the medical bay back at our station, he was severely wounded. Since this was your mission, sir, I'd like to ask if you could pardon this man. For me," I gesture at Clyde, "for us, really."
Straight shot goes the whiskey, no face either. "I am in y'alls debt, and I'd do anything to repay it," he puts the glass down on his desk, "but I can't pardon this man."
"But sir, he helped us track down your agents, he betrayed his own faction. He saved us all from death, he deserves a pardon."
He folds his hands on his desk, taking a serious posture. "I have no doubt that this man has done everything you said, but he's linked to a case and is a key element to leaking information on the other side. We can't let him go, but we'll treat him with the respect he deserves. He'll be transferred here as soon as he's in stable condition. I'll make the call to Adams soon."
Clyde places his arms behind his back. "Sir, he's just a lackey for a bigger bad guy. We've already interrogated him, he's got no useful information. They never even told him where they were keeping Jack and Abby, he helped us track them the whole way through."
Marston leans forward, his eyes set on Clyde. "Tell me, Agent Barker, how did you come to meet this man?"
Clyde stays silent as we both recollect when Sandy attacked us as soon as we dropped in the LZ. He was charged to capture us as he had with the previous agents.
"Not a good first impression, is it?" Marston asks. I can tell he gets no enjoyment out of denying us, and we both know his hands are tied on this. It would be foolish to let such an important person slip away just because he was forced to do a good deed.
"He's good, sir," I say, "he didn't have to save us, but he did."
Marston wasn't having any of it. He denies our request, leaving Sandy to rot in a small cell and be interrogated daily, but at least Sandy would be cooperative and nobody needs to get hurt during these sessions. It's good to have saved some fellow agents, but this only seems like a partial Happy Ending to me.
"He didn't have to save us, but he did."