Emergency

“Oh great, the boss passed out again,” someone says.

“I’ll go get the smelling salts,” a familiar voice says in a tired tone. Upon closer inspection, I realize that it’s Goldie.

Their responses are so laid back considering what just happened. Is this a normal occurrence?

Brass sits Mary back up and Goldie returns with the smelling salts shortly after. She places it under Mary’s nose and she lets out a big sneeze.

“Whut happun?”

“You passed out,” Goldie says, then pauses before adding, “Again.”

“I did? But wh— Ohhhhh. Altair knows. He knows!” She pauses, then turns to look at Brass and Goldie.

“How did he find out?”

Brass gives a basic run down of what happened this morning, with both Goldie and Silvia offering their own input here and there. Mary’s expression grows more horrified as Brass nears the end of his narration.

Mary lets out a tired sigh. “I guess it’s about time I got clean with him, anyway…”

“Boss, if you don’t mind me asking,” Goldie begins, “why do you like this guy so much? I mean, yeah he seems nice enough and I guess he’s pretty good looking, but…”

Mary smiles. “He probably doesn’t remember anymore, but he actually helped me out a lot when I was a kid. You see, he—“

“I’ve heard enough, please stop,” I say. This is getting too personal. It wouldn’t feel right to keep listening in like this. If I have to hear this kind of information, I’d rather hear it straight from the source.

Aquino raises a questioning eyebrow. “Really? Now? When it’s just starting to get good?”

“Aquino, please.”

“Alright, alright. No need to use the double ‘please’. Makes you look desperate.” She shuts off the monitor. “There, happy?”

“Yes, thank you.”

She turns to face me. “So, is there anything you’d like to say to me?”

“What?”

“Come on now, kiddo. I wasn’t born yesterday. You’ve got questions, let me have it.”

I look down at my lap and clench the fabric on my pants. Clench. Unclench. Clench. Unclench.

“Vargas,” Aquino says.

“You knew, right? About my history with Mary.”

“Sure did. I know that Cobalt was acquainted with her too, which is why I gave him this assignment first. But then—“

“I made contact with her.”

“A-yup. But it worked out for me in the end, especially since she already seemed to be so taken with you. Now, it’s my turn to ask a question. What do you plan to do now?”

“I’m…still figuring it out. But I know that I don’t want things to continue this way.”

I expect Aquino to say something cryptic next. Or laugh. Or maybe make a threat that comes off as a lighthearted joke. Instead, she gives me the kindest smile I’ve ever seen her wear.

“You know, when I first met you I knew you had the skills to become a great spy. But you have one big weakness. You’re too nice. You have a moral compass that’s constantly working against you.” Aquino holds her hand up to stop me from retorting. “Let me finish. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a strong moral compass. It can be both a strength and a weakness.”

She pauses and looks at me. I say nothing and wait for her to finish.

“I initially assigned this mission to you because I believed you would be both a good distraction and a good influence to Vega. I still believe that. But I certainly wasn’t expecting you to, oh, what’s the term that young people use nowadays? Catch feelings? Something to that effect.”

I feel my face flush in embarrassment. “Wha-?! I did not catch feelings! I did not catch anything!”

“Huh. You know, you remind me a lot of my son-in-law. He’s driven and honest to a fault and so incredibly stubborn. He reacted in a similar fashion to you when I brought up the prospect of him developing a romantic attraction to my daughter.”

I balk. “R-romantic attraction?! I’m not—“

“I’m not done talking, Altair.”

That stuns me into silence. Rosario only ever uses my first name when we aren’t in work mode. What could she mean by this?

She sighs. “I don’t know if it’s my age or becoming a grandma, but I’m getting soft.” She pauses, then looks at me with determined eyes. “This is completely off-record Altair, but--“

Rosario’s phone suddenly rings. “Hello? Agent White, what’s wrong? What? When?! We don’t have much time left, then. For now, do what you can.”

She hangs up and looks at me. “That was White, he said he just caught wind of some rival villain organization’s plan to raid some of our nearby bases. There’s still time to prevent a total takeover, but we’ll need all hands on deck.”

I nod in understanding. “I’ll go get ready.”

I really want to know what Rosario was going to say, but I squash my curiosity as best as I can. There are more important things to focus on right now.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everything and everyone is in motion when I arrive at the closest base. Gear is being moved, people are yelling out commands, and barricades are being set up. An acquaintance of mine notices me and beckons me over.

“Vargas, get over here!”

“Coming!”

I’m given instructions to assist some other agents in the south wing. He hands me some gear and pats me on the back, wishing me luck. I do as instructed and move as quickly as I can.

There are four other agents already there, two male and two female. I recognize their faces but I’ve never spoken to them enough to remember their names. They greet me curtly, which is just fine given the tenseness of the situation. Once we finish setting everything up, there’s nothing left to do but move into position and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

One of the girls stifles a yawn. A guy’s phone rings and he hastily shuts it off, muttering quiet apologies as he does so.

We continue to wait.

And wait some more.

Maybe Cobalt’s information was wrong? It could be that—

A loud blast interrupts my thoughts. Everyone stands at the ready. There’s coughing and footsteps and a familiar voice reaches my ears.

“Wow, they were really prepared. Do you think our plan got leaked or something?”

The smoke clears and she comes into view. Messy black hair, glasses that look like they’re about to fall off her nose, and a brightly colored suit that stands out against the base's stark white walls.

Mary?!

I can’t help it. I facepalm.