//------------------------------// // Don't fail me now, body // Story: The Secret Agent // by SecretAgentPlotTwist //------------------------------// Drops stared at the three girls. More accurately, she stared at the three Sirens, the agency’s biggest and most dangerous security threat. Her heart was in her throat. “How do you know she’s part of the agency, Adagio?” the blue haired one asked with a confused look. “I thought she was just sick.” The one with purple hair rolled her eyes with an annoyed groan. “We’ve seen agents’ reactions to mind control so many times. How do you still not recognise it, Sonata?” “Be fair to her, Aria. This one seems to have got a much more violent reaction than we’re used to,” Adagio said, giving Drops’ leg a little poke with her foot. “She can’t even move to run away.” Despite it only being a little kick, it hurt. These were magical creatures in front of her, and they were much stronger than they looked. “Wait, why are there still agents after us?” Sonata asked. “I thought we had dealt with them all.” A flash of panic spread across Drops’ face. Adagio laughed. “Aw, this poor little one didn’t know about it.” The Siren knelt down so that she was level with Drops and used its finger to lift up her face. “The agent who had been on our heels for a while now started to get all excited once he realised we would be staying here for a while. Brought in all the agents located close to here.” It shortened the gap between them, leaving no more than an inch of space from Drops’ face. She could feel just how strong the Siren was in just her finger. She couldn’t move her head away even if she tried. “But we couldn’t have them interfering with our plan now, could we. So, when they were looking into a place we’d grabbed a snack at recently, all unprepared and ripe for the picking, we paid them a visit.” Drops’ heart was pounding. Her face had fear plastered all over it. All she could do was sit helplessly as Adagio continued to smirk. Adagio then flicked her hand sideways, snapping Drops’ head to the left. It stood up and returned to her companions. “Alright, I’m bored with this.” “What do we do her?” Aria asked as Drops managed to nudge back slightly. “She might get in our way.” “What’s the matter Aria, scared of a little junior agent?” Sonata teased. Aria shot her a glare, but Adagio stepped between them to stop the fight. It then looked down the hall to see three scruffy looking boys down the hall, all of them seemingly too deep under their spell to come over and question the scene. “Hey boys, over here!” it called. Drops saw them begin moving over to join them. She recognised them as three contestants in the band named Diamond Dogs. “Now you wouldn’t believe what we’ve stumbled across here,” Adagio began as her eyes flashed green. “This contestant seems to be worried you’d beat her and was planning on sabotaging your act.” “She’s going to do what?” One of them growled. “Yes, if only there was someone who could stop her. Keep her locked away for the next two days so she can’t compete. Locked in one of the cupboards upstairs for example.” Adagio smiled at them before turning around and heading down the hall. “See, dealt with,” she said as the other Sirens followed her. Drops watched as the Sirens walked away nonchalantly and fought the urge to let out a sigh of relief. She turned her attention back to the three boys who were slowly moving in. She still couldn’t feel her legs, her arms were shaking, and her movements were dulled by a lingering dizziness. As she did her best to shuffle back, she started using her wobbly left arm to hit her right arm, trying desperately to get some blood flowing again. “Come, this ain’t gotta hurt,” the closest one said, leaning down so he could pick her up. Drops desperately flung her right arm forward, hitting him in the throat with her fist. He immediately backed off, coughing as he did so. His friends helped steady him, but they quickly returned their attention back to Drops. Her arm was still weak so the blow didn’t do enough to stop him. “I guess this does gotta hurt,” he said, rushing forward to grab her arms as his two friends went for her legs. Drops quickly moved her arms so that instead of him grabbing her, she grabbed his arms by the pressure points and clenched as hard as she could. He let out a whimper and tried to back off. With a whack to the back of his leg his stumble quickly led him to fall over. The other two, who had grabbed each leg, saw this and loosened their grip in surprise. Feeling a little bit of control in her right leg, she used her opening to kick the boy holding it in the crotch and then move it to kick the other one in the hip, freeing her completely. Now with enough space to maneuver, she used her arms and leg to push herself up into a kneeling position, with her still numb left leg being used as a support beam with its knee on the ground. She readied her arms into a defensive stance, although not a very firm one. The three boys picked themselves up and raised their fists into a fighting position. They all looked very annoyed at how difficult this was proving. Drops did her best to seem confident, but now that it was coming down to a fist fight, she was a sitting duck until her leg started working. Two of them went in for a punch. Drops just about managed to dodge the first, returning a hit to his side, but didn’t have the time to avoid the second, and was hit square in the face. Her stance faltered, but—to his surprise—she recovered quickly despite the pain and returned the favour with a punch to the chest hard enough to knock the wind out of him. She had kept an eye on the third boy as he snuck behind her, and so when he ran in for a tackle she readied herself so that he didn’t manage to knock her over. Unfortunately, her arms hadn’t recovered enough to push him off. He instead managed to pull her up into a standing position with her legs dangling down. The other two smiled. They moved in to take full advantage of their opening. The first one punched her in the chest, causing her to grunt in pain, followed by the second one hitting her square in the face. The first one, now feeling confident, went in for a punch in the face, but Drops wiggled enough room to dodge and the fist hit the third friend’s face instead, causing him to lose his grip. Drops just about managed to remain standing with her now spasming left leg. She took full advantage of the boy’s confused expression, hitting him in the chest and throat respectively, before turning to the other boy who had backed off. The three of them now circled her but decided against going in for another attack straight away. She wiped her nose, realising that it was bloodied. This wasn’t working. With a quick scan of her surroundings, she noticed a school locker to her left that was slightly ajar. She whacked the side of her left leg to try and lessen the spasms. She then slowly moved to her left, a movement that caused the boys to ready their stances, and positioned herself so that her back was up against the lockers. The three boys then took their moment to move in. The one in front went in for a kick which she easily stopped by grabbing his foot and flinging it upwards so he fell to the floor, giving her enough time to dodge the punch on her right. A quick whack to the back of the boy's throat was all it took to get him to back off as he coughed in pain. Putting her now full attention to the boy to her left, who was going in for another punch, she grabbed his arm and used her other hand to knock his head into the locker. She then swung open the ajar locker into the boy’s face with enough speed to knock him over. She was fairly certain he wouldn’t get back up. One down, two to go. She turned to the other ones as they picked themselves up. There was a flash of fear on their faces when they saw their friend, but they quickly pulled up their fists for another go. Drops readied her stance. A moment passed and she raised her eyebrow. Her arm was no longer shaking. She glanced down to her left leg, which was no longer spasming, and gave it a little shake. She was in control again. Well, this just got a lot easier. The first boy went for a punch. Drops used her right arm to knock the punch off course and elbowed him in the face. She moved both arms down to grab his leg which she pulled up to make him fall over and then pushed down to heighten the impact. He hit the floor with a thud. Drops turned, swiping her foot along the floor as she did so to trip over the last boy as he began to rush her. The speed and strength of the leg was so great that his legs were completely knocked into the air. His head was the first thing that hit the ground causing his body to spasm before also hitting the ground with a thud. He was out cold. Drops stood up straight and dusted herself off, looking over her newly unconscious schoolmates as she did so. That was far closer than she’d have liked. Her chest and face were both aching from the punches. But she had made it. Now she needed to get back to her apartment. Drops ran the whole way back, ran as best she could that is. Her legs were still in bad shape and hurt when she moved them, but she bore through the pain. As she did she checked her phone. There were a lot of messages and missed calls from the agency that she had ignored while under the Sirens’ spell. She decided to skip checking the messages and call the agency directly. “Hello, Sweetie Drops, is that you?” An agent asked through her phone. “Yes, I’m here,” she said in an exhausted voice. “Oh thank goodness. We thought the Sirens had compromised you.” “They did. I’ve only just managed to escape.” “They got to you? Are you hurt.” “Nothing too bad.” Drops stopped to gasp some air before she headed up the stairs to her flat. “What happened to Fast Glider? The Sirens said they got him.” There was a pause. “Fast Glider and every other agent in the vicinity are in the hospital.” “What do you mean they’re in the hospital? What Happened?” Drops paused. “Every other agent in the vicinity?” “Fast Glider reported he was closer than ever to getting the Sirens and requested every agent near him to be transferred to his mission. When investigating a shop the Sirens had been in to feed they returned and hospitalized everyone there.” Drops felt cold. “Is he okay?” “His condition is stable but he’s badly injured, much like everyone else who was there.” “Why wasn’t I— “Fast Glider requested that he not interfere with your home mission.” Drops started making her way up the stairs. “How did I not know. I spoke to someone just before I met the Sirens.” “We got the report about an hour after you called us. We’ve been trying to make contact with you since then.” “Yes, sorry about that. I was unfortunately under the Siren's spell.” Drops made it to her front door and went through. “So what do I do now.” “I’ve been instructed not to tell you anything. One of the higher ups wants to talk to you personally.” “Alright, I’ll wait.” She put the phone on loudspeaker and placed it down on her table. She then laid down on the sofa next to it and let out one long groan. Her head was spinning, her body aching, and she was barely keeping up with everything that was going on. She rested on her sofa until she heard a click from someone picking up the phone. “Agent Sweetie Drops,” said a gruff and stern voice through the speakers. “This is High General Dusk Speaking.” Drops instinctively straightened up. She wasn’t expecting someone that high up to speak to her. She had met only two High generals in all her time in the agency, and she had never spoken to one. “Yes, sir.” She sounded more nervous than she’d have liked. “It’s good to hear you’re still with us agent. Unfortunately, we must skip past any pleasantries, as we are all in grave trouble.” Drops heard the sound of notes being picked up. “If your report on equestrian magic is indeed correct, which we believe it to be, then we are under the belief that the Sirens are after said magic. “This, unfortunately, is a huge danger to us and everyone on this world. If the Sirens get their hands on it, their true powers will be unleashed and we will stand a very slim chance of survival indeed. It is for that reason the High Generals have unanimously called an Order Red.” Drops stared at her phone for a moment, unable to fully believe what she just heard. Order Red, the complete mobilization of everyone in the agency towards one threat. Drops thought back the urge to gulp. “What are my orders, sir?” There was a long pause. The General then coughed. “Normally protocol would state that you would move to your nearest mission base and await a division assignment, but with all operatives near you out of action, we need someone keeping an eye on the situation.” Drops couldn’t say anything, her heart was beating too fast. “I know you are still a junior recruit, a level bronze junior recruit in full, and this mission has already far surpassed your training and experience, but we are out of options. A division capable of stopping them won’t be formed and arrive until late tomorrow night. Sweetie Drops, we need you to stall whatever they’re planning until they can get there. “Can you do this?”