Hey!

Thank you writingmagic, Loricwarrior9, Kaiyaosha and I'm number eleven for your reviews on the last chapter.

Here's the long overdue chapter 8! Dedicated to my beautiful cousin Mar :P I hope this makes up for your bad day!

CHAPTER 8

MARINA

The red haired woman smiles confidently as she walks towards us, and my hand makes its way to my holstered gun at my waist.

"Oh no, I wouldn't do that", she says and before I can react she pulls out her own pistol and aims it straight at Nine.

I look between them, only to find him in a similar position as I now find myself in, hands slowly moving away from the firearm tucked into the waistband of his jeans and to the front of his body, where they rest at his sides.

"You too", she says to Six, who continues to glare at our to-be-killer as she raises her hands and places them behind her neck.

"And now you, desk boy", she says looking at John, only to find herself staring down the slightly shaking barrel of a shotgun he must have pulled from his briefcase.

"Well well, this one has some spunk", she says before grinning and pointing her gun straight between my eyes, "If you –or any of the others- shoot then so will I, and I promise you, I won't miss", she tells him, re-positioning herself so she can see all of us at once.

I consider my chances of incapacitating her before she has a chance to pull the trigger, but I almost immediately conclude that it's too much of a risk, and I can see in her eyes that she isn't one to make empty threats.

"It seems we have reached an impasse", Nine slowly says and her eyes flicker to him briefly before returning to John.

"Ladies first", he says, glancing at her pistol and she sighs, rolling her eyes almost as if this is a joke to her before slowly starting to lower it, but her finger never leaves the trigger.

She looks at him expectantly as he begins to copy her actions, glancing at the three of us as he does so.

I can tell he expects us to do something, and while it should be easy for all four of us to overpower her, there's something strange about the way she has chosen to approach us.

It's almost as if she has no serious intent to kill us.

"And now", she says as soon John's arm is fully lowered, "back to my question. Would one of you folks please enlighten me as to why the agency wants me to kill you?".

"Don't you know already?", Six sneers, glaring at her with pure hatred in her eyes, but the woman raises her eyebrows, unfazed.

"Well I have an idea, but I'm not sure I'm right. They don't really give me all the details", she says.

"And you don't ask questions", Nine simply states, and she shrugs.

"Too much information can lead to mistakes", she says quoting the agency's favorite line.

"You seem to know a fair bit about the agency", I point out and she looks at me with a knowing smile.

"Well, I know enough to know that you're trying the basic move of stalling me, and getting me to answer your questions so you don't have to answer mine, but playing along is really trying my patience. So answer!", she says, her tone going from controlled to commanding, but contrary to her words, she shows no other signs of impatience.

"We don't know either", John says, "I thought you might have gathered as much from when you were up there, waiting for us all to appear", he adds, glancing up to the rafters before meeting her eyes again.

"Hmm", she muses, before looking at us quizzically, as if we're some curious puzzle to her.

"A short tempered, probably frustrated agent, looking for her first challenging job, a cocky, overconfident idiot, one rogue agent and a desk boy. What could you lot have ever done to piss of the organization?", she mutters, looking between us.

"Okay lady, if you don't mind, can you stop your grilling and get on to trying to kill us already? There are people here who have places to go and people's asses to kick", Nine says, and I find myself agreeing with her assessment of him being cocky.

And maybe even an idiot part, I think as he tries to reach for his gun again, and her eyes flicker to him dangerously, giving him a measured glare before her arm moves up, as if to shoot him.

We react immediately, Six's arm shooting to her gun, John's arm rising to aim his weapon at her as I push myself in front of Nine, pulling out mine out from it's holster.

But what she does next surprises us all.

She drops her gun.

"Just so you know, I don't intend to kill anyone today. I'm here to talk, and while it seems strange, your situation is of great interest to me", she says and we slowly relax.

"How so?", I ask cautiously, and she looks me straight in the eye as she answers.

"If I'm right, then the people who must have hacked the agency to place this assignment are the same group I've been trying to track down for a while now, and knowing why they chose to target you is imperative to what I'm trying to do", she says, looking between us.

"And does this group have a name?", Six asks, the malice in her voice lowering with every word.

"Military Operations and Genetics International, often shortened to M.O.G. They're limited to the States, kind of a shady operation, have some deals with government concerning weaponry and as of late, some use of genetic research in agriculture and the likes. Have any of you ever had any contact with this group, in any way?", she asks, looking at us and I feel a sinking sensation in my stomach.

M.O.G.

In my mind, see the same three letters sewn in grey onto black shirts, worn by two men holding up a third between them, whose lip is bleeding from where he's been hit in the face. His eyes are telling me to run, as he negotiates with the voice inside the van parked to his left. To run, while he turns himself in.

Naveen.

They took him, and if what this woman says about M.O.G. is true -that they can hack into one of the most secure networks in the world and authorize a hit on high level targets- then I can't begin to imagine what he must be going through, or if he's even still alive.

I know those letters, and I know, first hand, what the group they signify is capable of.

So when her gaze crosses mine, I slowly raise my hand, the words leaving my mouth in barely a whisper.

"I have".

JOHN

We all turn to look at Marina –whose name I know from her file, which is one among the many that currently reside in my briefcase- who stands stiffly, her eyes focused away into the distance and wait for her to explain.

"They took my partner", she says, and proceeds to tell us how she lost her mission partner after they became romantically involved during an assignment to track a member of M.O.G. who was rumored to be conducting illegal testing of drugs on humans without either his company, or the government finding out.

But things went downhill when their mark, a celebrated scientist, got the company's "security" to go after them, and the duo, being caught off guard, found themselves facing torture and eventually, death.

"But then he pleaded for them to let me go", she says, as tears begin to flow down her face, and she wipes them away, looking a little embarrassed.

"He got them to agree, he said that he'd tell them Agency secrets, not that he ever would, but he… he was trying to get me out alive", she adds, her eyes downcast.

She takes a second to compose herself before continuing, the pain and sorrow in her voice now replaced by anger and frustration as she narrates the rest of her story.

"I got away, making my way back to headquarters, but when
I told them what happened, they didn't even try to look for him!", she screams, her hands gesturing wildly, "It was like they didn't even care. But I wasn't going to sit around, so I left. And that's what I've been doing for the past few months, trying to find any leads, and rumors of where they're keeping him".

"A couple of days ago a source in Paris told me Naveen was brought here-", she starts to say, but the woman cuts her off.

"Naveen?", she asks and we turn to her, just as a flash of some emotion crosses her face at the mention of the name, but it's gone before I can register it.

"That is his name. Naveen", Marina says, the sadness creeping back into her voice, "And they said they brought him here, to West Virginia, and that's how I ended up at this warehouse".

"So M.O.G. kidnapped your partner. I guess this is why they say no hooking up in office. Make out during a mission and the next thing you know you're being kidnapped by some evil scientist group", Nine says and Marina flares up again.

"We were not being so careless! It wasn't like that!", she shouts, her voice rising and Six puts her arm out to pull her back.

"Marina, he's being an insensitive jerk. He doesn't mean it", she says, shooting Nine a death glare, and he pretends to be intimidated.

"Guys, are you sure none of you have heard anything else?", she asks, as her hands begin to move rapidly, forming various shapes with her fingers.

I start to wonder what has gotten into her, when suddenly the frantic movements begin to make sense.

It's the basic sign code every agent is taught as they enter service, to be used in conditions when they cannot communicate verbally.

It appears that she knows a great deal more about the agency than she lets on.

"This is a trap. Talk normally. Listen carefully", she signs and I nod.

"I'm not sure, but we did have this one assignment", I say, and regret it instantly.

The word assignment triggers a flood of memories. Mark's groans of pain, his begging for them to stop and the pain, both physical and emotional.

I feel my heart begin to pound as my hands begin to tremble, the first signs of a major anxiety attack, something I definitely can't afford to have.

Not here, and especially not now.

I take a deep breath, which helps a little but not much. I shakily holster the gun I'm carrying and wring my hands together as she continues.

"Well I'm pretty sure that we can only look into matters where it's confirmed. Speculation has it's place, but right now, we're looking for facts", she says and I watch her hands carefully.

My heart rate slowly begins to even out as I decipher her message, Marina and Six filling the silence with a discussion about conjecture.

"They would have never sent just one person to take out a group of four agents. Circumstances seem too perfect, how did they get you all to end up here as planned, on time? There are other factors at play here, and the way I received this assignment was not normal. Check for wires, or detonators. I need to be sure. Check for cameras and microphones too."

"No cameras", Nine signs back, "we would have been dead already if there were any here. Can't be sure about mics", he finishes and she nods, signaling for us to search.

We spread out, and it's less than three minutes before Marina has found the bomb, placed in an empty crate near one of the support pillars.

"Disarm it?", Six signs and just as she finishes, we hear a small whirring noise from inside the container.

"No time!", the woman says, getting up onto her feet, "That casing is for a chemical trigger, totally silent and doesn't require someone to press a button", she says and begins to back away from it.

"How long?", Marina asks and Six looks at it gravely.

"Not long enough, we have a minute after the casing opens", she replies, and as if on cue, we hear a small pop as the black casing opens out to reveal the bomb inside.

We run.

My grip tightens around my briefcase as my legs send me flying out of the building. I know it's slowing me down, but my hands are trembling so violently, I think the white knuckled grip on the handle is the only thing keeping me from slipping over the edge right now.

We barely make it thirty feet before the warehouse is consumed by flames, the resultant explosion knocking us off our feet and down to the ground.

The briefcase goes flying out of my hand as they open out to cushion my fall, my palms scratched by the rough gravel underneath.

I pull myself up, glancing wildly around me as the memories in my brain break free from the weak walls I had managed to place around them.

I see it, I hear it all over again, and when I bring my hands up to cover my eyes, the sight of the blood on them sends me reeling again.

I grope wildly for my case, and for the small bottle of pills I know I have inside, but I can't find it anywhere.

And then I feel someone's hand in mine, guiding me to the handle, and once I have it, I shakily open up the locks and pull out the orange and white bottle.

My fingers struggle to open the lid, and there are the hands again, removing a single pill before placing it gently on my palm.

The pill goes down, and my breathing slows, as does the spinning of the world around me.

And then I see Six, my pill bottle in her hands as she reads the label, comprehension dawning on her features as she looks between me and the plastic container in her hands.

"Six? Are you guys okay?", I hear Marina call and Six quickly shoves the medicine into my hands before answering.

"Yeah we're fine. Just thought desk boy here might have a concussion. He hit his head pretty hard", she calls back and I send her a grateful look, to which she nods in response.

I slowly get to my feet and turn to see the warehouse behind me, which is now almost entirely engulfed in the blaze.

"It's worse than I thought", the woman says, walking towards us as Nine and Marina come to stand with us, our eyes trained on the flames.

"What is?", I ask, clearing my throat to rid it of it's shaky quality as she replies.

"M.O.G. and the Agency, things are a lot more complicated than I thought", she replies, before turning around and walking away.

"We have around twenty-four hours before they realize none of us actually died in that blast", she calls over her shoulder, "Less if they had mics in there. So I suggest we get moving".

"We? You want us to come with you? After you just tried to kill us?", Nine shouts at her and she stops, turning around.

"Correction: I didn't try to kill you, whoever it is just tried to kill ALL of us, including me, so I would like to think we're on the same side here. And also, I have much more experience with going underground, and I even have a place we can lay low for a while", she replies and Nine scoffs.

"So you expect us to trust you? We don't even know who you are!", he argues and she sighs.

"My name is Margaret, that's all I can tell you for now", she replies, "And as far as trusting me goes, well I wouldn't say that you have many other options, assuming you want to live, of course".

She lets the thought sink in for a moment before looking at us, eyebrows raised.

"So are you guys coming, or what?"

Wohooo! That was so much fun to write. I love explosions.

Anyway. Be sure to check out my latest chapter on The Destiny of Seven! Chapter 7 is now online! And chapter 8 for TDOS will be coming soon!

Thanks so much for reading! Tell me what you think in a review! :P

Until next time

thesecondgarde