Hello! I really do apologize for how late this is. I meant to get it out before I moved, but that didn't happen, so here I am now. This chapter was originally going to be entirely different from how it is now, but I switched it to this as it fit better and let it stand alone, so I apologize on the length. The next chapter will be longer for sure. Anyway, thank you so much for reading this far! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Teufort Highway

1:05 Sunday

The RED Spy jumped slightly at the sound of his phone ringing, causing him to swerve slightly on the road. He tightened his grip on the wheel, then took a slow breath in through his nose. Briefly, his eyes flicked to his phone on the passenger's seat. When he saw the number, he reached over and flipped the phone face down. A petty show of distaste, perhaps, but he was far from being in the mood for civility in privacy.

He returned his focus on the road ahead in just enough time to see a sign for Bilious Gorge appear along a narrow crack between two massive plateaus. Spy slowed his car to a stop just outside the sign so it was hidden by a collection of rock formations. Several minutes later, he found himself staring at a short length of chain link fence topped with electrified wire and coated in warning signs. He touched the chain gate with the rubber tips of his gloves. With a bit of effort, he pushed open the gate.

Standing before him a few meters away was a pack of guard dogs chained in front of a boarded mineshaft entrance. Simply going invisible would not fool the dogs. They could smell him, and they knew very well that he was not welcome here. Spy took a deep breath. He knew how to get past the dogs, or at least, he had a hunch of how.

From his pocket, Spy produced a small clicker he'd pickpocketed from one of the Administrator's TV men. He pressed the button at its center, and the dogs instantly relaxed into sitting positions, allowing him to walk past them and slip between two boards to access the mine shaft within.

Dim lights illuminated an aging dirt tunnel snaking down to an equally aged cage lift. He pressed a small button hidden beneath an artificial outcropping on the wall and waited. Ten minutes later, the lift appeared. He chuckled softly to himself when he saw the access panel to return down. It was a simple matter, really. Just jimmy open the front panel with a knife, pop off the security seal to be replaced, move around a few wires, and activate the recognition mechanism.

The door dinged and the lift began its descent. On the long ride down, Spy busied himself with replacing the panel and readying his appearance for what lie ahead. Once the lift opened on the ground, three men in tan trench coats and hats stared back at him. They seemed surprised, but not ready for action. They had been trained to keep out RED and BLU mercenaries. Not gentlemen dressed in black suits worthy of a classic Bond villain. As such, they stepped past spy and made their first mistake; they turned their backs to him.

The man closest to Spy was delivered a quick stab to the back and a practiced turn of the blade to sever the fragile spinal cord between vertebrae. The second man dropped to the floor as a dose of lethal tranquilizer was shot into his collar from a sleek silver pistol. The third man received a slit of the throat followed by a knife driven into his spine once he doubled over.

Spy returned his knife and pistol to his jacket before muttering, "All in a day's work."

After a short walk down a stainless steel hallway. Spy found himself in a massive cylindrical room humming with hundreds of computer terminals. Nestled at the center of the mess of technology, was a single elevator tube leading deep into the earth.

Spy strode toward the elevator, then stopped. Between the ground he stood on and the elevator was a rather wide stretch of space that dropped down to an abyss. His eyes traveled up to the elevator tube. The surface of the tube was smooth and flawless, with no clear means of entry save for a warning light and the thin outline of a retracting door.

Spy looked to the door, then to his cloak and dagger. With a soft sigh, he activated it, and waited.

Nearly an hour passed before his patience paid off. Despite the time passage, he was fully alert and ready when the door of the tube slid open.

Miss. Pauling stepped out onto a platform that stretched across the abyss. She had her nose buried in her clipboard, and failed to notice the faint breeze caused by the invisible man that drifted past her.

The elevator door hissed shut, narrowly missing clipping the heel of Spy's shoes.

At that point, she had to know. The Administrator was a smart woman. She had to know of the spy in her own base. With that known, Spy began to partake in one of his favorite pastimes as the elevator descended; mulling over possible future conversations. Before he could even get through the second possibility, the elevator stopped and opened to reveal the Administrator in her high backed chair.

She turned toward him "I was wondering when you'd be sent to kill me."

Spy allowed his cloak to drop and stepped from the elevator "Madame, if I'd come to kill you, then I assure you one of us would already be dead."

"Indeed," she lit a cigarette, "then why are you here?"

"I'd like to discuss the deal your henchman proposed to me roughly one week ago."

The Administrator paused, her cigarette just touching the edges of her lips "What deal?"

Spy hesitated. The Administrator was not one to forget something so important. That is, if she had known about it. And if she didn't know about it, then the problem certainly stretched beyond a simple change in pay.

The Administrator leaned forward so her elbows rested on the arms of her chair, "I'd like to propose a new deal. I'll investigate this 'deal' matter, and you," she extended a Manila folder to him, "will do your job."

Spy took the folder. It felt heavy in his hands, likely it was full of documents. He flicked it open. A contract met his eyes.

"Madam, I don't believe this work is within my pay grade."

A smirk tugged at the edge of the Administrator's lips, "Consider it a bonus."

Miss. Pauling grabbed the wrist of Spy's right hand from behind and pressed his palm against a metal plate.

He hissed softly as the metal singed the glove from his hand to imprint the patterns on his fingers.

Miss. Pauling smiled sympathetically, "Sorry."

Spy felt a needle prick the back of his neck.

"I'll see you here again in three days." Said the Administrator.

A few moments later, he blacked out.