Chapter 109 The Secret Agent

The road to success is always under construction.

-Lily Tomlin

Blake

Emma almost gave me a heart attack when she walked up to those Seekers, but she had to have some sort of plan. She's not one to be reckless. And my suspicions are confirmed when I hear her call the Seeker by name. This is the one that took her.

I narrow my eyes when she walks away with him, but I know she's safe enough with Burns there. It gives me the opportunity to take the boy to safety. He hardly struggles. Watching his parents die must have shocked him, but I don't have time to dwell on it now. We have to get back to the van first.

"There you go," I say while lifting the kid in the back of the van. I climb in after him and close the door. I'm not sure what to say to him. He's like what, Six? Seven? It's been ages since I had that age and back then, my only concern was getting out of bed on time to watch my favorite cartoon.

The boy has crawled into the farthest corner of the van, his knees pulled up to his chest.

"They'll be back soon," I say in an attempt to comfort him. He doesn't respond, but his lip starts to tremble. I know what that means. "You want to eat something?" I ask. If he's eating he can't cry. "I think we have cookies here. Chocolate chip?" I'm sure Emma will forgive me given the circumstances.

The boy shakes his head. His face is awfully pale. I sigh. I hope Emma and Burns will be back soon. I don't know what to do with this kid.

Another thought comes to mind. When Burns comes back, this kid is going to freak out.

"Look, you're safe with us, kid. We have a place to live, with other humans. You can stay there too. You'll like it. It's like a bat cave. You like superheroes? I know I did when I had your age. We have our own superhero. He was with us too, remember the tall guy? Just wait until you meet him."

The boy doesn't respond, but he glances at me every now and then. I suppose it's a start.

There's a soft rapping against the side of the van. "Blake?" I hear Emma's soft voice and I open the door. They look defeated.

"You two alright?" I ask. I frown when Burns passes me a gun. "How did you get this?" I ask stunned, "did you kill them?"

"He gave it to us," Emma says, "that one Seeker... he was the one..." her voice quivers, but I know enough. He was the one that took her.

Then suddenly there is a scream behind me and I almost fall out of the van. The boy must have spotted Burns. "Geez kid," I gasp, "calm down."

"He's one of them!" he shouts, "he's a monster! He will hurt us! You have to kill him!"

"It's alright," Emma tells him, like that is going to help, "he's our friend. He won't hurt us."

"Hey," I turn to the boy, "remember what I said before? He may be one of them, but he's on our side. You see Emma here? She was kidnapped by those aliens, but Burns fought them and brought her back. He's like a secret agent. You can trust him."

He doesn't seem to believe me, but at least he's not screaming anymore.

"There's something else," Emma says hesitantly and I sigh as she explains. "It's dangerous, squirky. You told me they were the ones to put Sky in your body. If the find out you're human..."

"I'll be careful. I promise," Emma says, "Burns will be there with me. We won't stay long. I'll come up with some excuse. You're going to have to stay in the van though."

"I'll leave on the air-conditioning," Burns says, but I shake my head. We can't have the engine die on us now. We still have a long way to go.

I look back at the boy. He looks so lost. "It's gonna be okay, kid," I say.

"My mom and dad... they're not coming, are they?"

I sigh. "I'm afraid not, kid."

"Finn," he says, "I'm Finn."

I nod. "I'm Blake. That's Emma and Burns. I know you probably don't trust Burns now, but when you'll get to know him, you'll see he's alright." I smirk. "It's Emma you have to be afraid of. She's the scary one."

Emma doesn't look impressed. "Nice, Blake," she says flatly.

I wink at Finn. "See?"

"We should get going," Burns says and we all agree. Besides, I don't think Finn would want to stay any longer.

We drive away. I don't know how long we're driving, but the journey is mostly quiet. We're all lost in our own thoughts. I keep a careful eye on Finn. I'm still waiting for reality to catch up with him. He hasn't cried yet.

But as it seems, he's not the one on the verge of a breakdown.

In the front seat, Emma is hyperventilating. Burns is casting her worried glances, but there's not much he can do since he's the one that's driving.

"Breathe, squirky," I whisper in her ear, "you can do this. It's just like going on a raid." It's an obvious lie and she knows it too, but it might help her calm down.

I keep talking to her until her breath regulates again. By the time that happens we are already at our destination.

Burns parks the car on the front lawn of a large house. "What are we doing here?" It's the first time Finn speaks up, "where are we going?"

"Emma and Burns are going to take care of a few things," I tell him. It's better to leave out the details. "You and I are going to wait in the van until they come back. We need to be quiet, okay? It's secret agent stuff."

Finn crosses his arms and glares at me. "I'm eight, not five. Don't treat me like a baby."

I hear Emma giggle.

"Fine," I tell the boy, "I won't treat you like a kid. So listen to me then. They're going to do something risky and the two of us are going to stay here. Got it?"

Finn's lip starts to tremble again. Great. Now I'll be stuck with a whining child.

"Will you be okay, Blake?" Burns asks me.

"We'll be fine," I say. They should leave before we draw attention.

I sigh when they close the doors and walk up to the house. Burns better take good care of Emma. This is a risky move.

I look at Finn who is quietly sobbing. "Hey, I thought you said you weren't a baby?"

He grits his teeth and looks at me in what's probably meant as a glare, but because of his teary expression he doesn't pull it off.

I sigh again and lean against the front seat. "Look, I know it's hard, losing your parents like that. If you want to cry then that's okay. You don't have to act tough around us. We all lost people and you're still a kid."

Finn rubs his eyes, but the tears still fall. "I'm all alone now," he sobs.

I let him cry. He needs to get it out of his system. Eight years old. He's too young to remember a world without running. He has a reason to cry.

I think back on all the times I cried when I was a kid, crying because my parents weren't there for me, until at some point I decided I wouldn't care anymore. My childhood was paradise compared to Finn's.

"You're not alone," I say after a while, "I know we're not your parents, but there's twenty-one of us back home, Burns included. We're sort of a family I guess. We are all alone as well, but as a group we are together."

Finn sobs and wipes away his tears. "You think I could stay there too?"

"Sure," I answer.

Finn sighs. "Okay," he says in a small voice.

I give him a serious nod. "Okay." I glance through the windshield at the house. Burns and Emma have been gone a while. They're sitting with those two aliens in the shadow of a tree in the front of the house. At least I can keep an eye on them from here.

"Why are they talking to those monsters?" Finn asks when he sees where I'm looking.

"They're trying to make them believe Emma is one of them," I say.

"Why?" Finn asks.

Now this is the hard part. "I told you she was kidnapped right?" He nods so I continue. "They made her one of them, but Burns took her back in secret and they don't know he's one of the good guys."

"So he really is a secret agent," Finn whispers.

"Yup."

"Then that lady is a secret agent too."

"I guess so," I nod.

A thoughtful expression appears on his face. "Then... what are you?" he asks curiously.

I frown. "I guess that makes me the sidekick then."

"What's a 'side-kick'?"

"It's like an assistant, the one that gets to save the hero when he's in danger. The side-kick is actually way cooler that the hero. Without the side-kick, the hero wouldn't win any fight."

Finn gives me a skeptical look "Riiiight."

Well at least he's distracted. I look at Burns and Emma again. They have stood up and are entering the house. I frown. This can't be good.

I keep a careful watch on the alien couple and keep my weapon ready.

Finn's eyes go wide. Just like that he is serious again. The aliens talk for a moment and then the woman stands up and disappears into the house as well. All my senses are up now. There's still one left. Only one. I can take him if necessary.

Noises are coming from the house and then a shout. The male alien stands up and that's my cue to go. "Stay in the van," I tell Finn.

"Where are you going?" he asks in a frightened tone.

"I'll be back. Stay in the van!" I hurry towards the house, trying not to be spotted before I can reach the man.

His back is towards me and I quickly press his neck to cut off his blood flow. He collapses in my arms. I know I don't have much time. I can hear Burns talking to the woman in some other section of the house.

I drag the man further inside and place him on the couch. My eyes slide over the room, looking for something to tie him up with. They land on something else instead. A small cabinet with tubes and jars. I recognize them from earlier raids. The keep medicine in their living room?

Quickly I walk over and study them until I find what I'm looking for.

Sedative.

I walk back to the man and spray it in his face. He won't be waking any time soon. Next I walk to where Burns and Emma are with the other alien. She's just leaving when I arrive and in a reflex I spray some of the stuff in her face too.

She collapses right away and Burns slowly lowers her to the ground.

"How did you get in?" Burns asks, "where's Storm?"

That must be the other alien. "He's unconscious," I answer, "what happened?" Though I can take a guess.

"She figured out Emma wasn't Sky," he answers, "I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen. She panicked. I didn't know what to do."

"We'll figure something out," I say. I glance at Emma who seems to have frozen. "Go take this one to the living room," I tell Burns. I have to break Emma out of her daze.

She doesn't respond to anything I'm saying, so I resort to more drastic measures and slap her hard across the face.

"Ow!" she calls and she looks at me stunned.

"Sorry," I say stiffly.

"It's okay," she whispers while touching her cheek.

"You can't freeze up like that, squirky," I tell her.

"I know," she nods.

"Because if you freeze up like that squirky, it puts all of us in danger."

She's talking to me, but I hardly comprehend her words. Does she even now how much she scared me just now when she didn't respond?

"Especially when you go out on a mission like this. I can't always protect you. You have to fight for yourself. I know you can do it. I know you're tougher than that and I can't lose you again."

"Sorry!" she shouts.

We stare at each other awkwardly.

"Are the monsters dead now?"

Emma and I turn at the same time. I look at Finn, who is silently watching us from the doorway. Great.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I told you to stay in the van."

"You didn't come back," the boy states calmly.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair.

Emma awkwardly excuses herself and scurries off to find Burns. When she's gone, I cross my arms and raise my eyebrow at Finn. He looks down and taps his toes against the floor.

I keep forgetting how young he is. I don't really know anything about children.

I take a deep breath. "Are you hungry?" I ask.

Finn glances up at me. "Won't they be angry if we take their food?"

I glance in the direction of the living room, where now two unconscious bodies lie, and sigh sadly. "I don't think they'll need it anymore."