I took deep heavy breaths as I landed in the room, my tablet said this was where the target was hiding but it was just an empty arena-like space, I was about to take a step further when a sharp pain hit my neck and I flew to the ground a curse flying from my lips as I crumpled.

"Careful there mate, floor's slippery" a voice sounded behind me.

Panic mode instantly took over me as I turned around, I've been caught! There's no telling what the enemy is going to do to me now, I looked up and froze at the sight in front of me.

There stood a tall man, not much older than me actually, fluffy burgundy hair sprouted out his head and ran down to his back, bright grass green eyes staring down at me, he was wearing the same outfit as me, a pitch-black short sleeve turtle neck that made his pale skin glow paired with black slacks and a toolbelt that fit him better than mine did, the thing that confused me was that he had a wide, goofy smile that showed off his pearly whites, his canines slightly crooked, was he happy he caught me? usually, enemy agents are pissed when they find us.

I flinched when his hand moved toward me but looked at it when I didn't feel another strike, being confused once again when it was just outstretched, "Come on let me help you up, I wasn't fair knocking you down"

I paused, he definitely didn't sound like he was from here, he had a thick accent I couldn't figure out what it was, whatever it was I would have to deal with that later as I didn't have time, I just took his hand and let him pull me to my feet, "you're one of  X's agents, right?" he asked.

"Who's asking?" I raised a brow as I stepped away.

"I was told to expect a few today, and you're not someone I recognize, I have a thing for remembering faces" somehow that goofy grin widened "I'm Angelo, but everyone calls me agent 42"

I just stared at him, was he new or just not that bright? you're not supposed to give out your information so freely or give the other team this much time to escape, after a moment I just sighed and turned to walk deeper into the room "I don't have time for this, I'm on a mission not a meet and greet"

"Wait" He grabbed my arm and turned me back around "You came here to retrieve something yes? I can't just let you waltz in and take it"

"Surprising, because that's exactly what you did, for ten minutes, now if you're only going to be an excited puppy I need to finish my mission and catch up to the others," I said bluntly and tried to yank my arm away.

"Challenge me" He completely ignored what I just said "I've been in here for hours bored out my mind, if you can beat me in combat I'll give you this free pass this one time"

I was seriously losing my patience, if I don't hurry up the target might be moved again or worse, enemies much tougher than Agent 42 might realize what's happened and burst through the room, "Fine" I hissed "First to hit the floor loses"

He perked up and proceeded to drag me to the middle of the room, as soon as he let my arm go to take a few steps back I reached for my taser gun but he shook his head, "Fists only, using weapons is cheating"

"Are you serious?" I groaned, taking my hand off the gun and got into position "You are probably the weirdest agent I've met yet"

"Thanks" He chirped and stared at the ground for a moment getting his feet in position then looked back up at me still having that stupid smile.

I couldn't say it pissed me off.

Without warning, he charged at me faster than I thought someone his height could move and swung his fist at the side of my head, I ducked nearly getting my teeth knocked out and kicked the back of his knee as I moved more out the way, 42 almost hit the ground but caught himself just in time and spun around his foot aiming for my neck again, I barely stepped back in time and kneed him in the back just before his foot touched the ground.

I growled as he still didn't fall but instead tripped himself and landed on his knees, the look in his eyes turned wild as he looked at me and got up, anger quickly turned into fear as he got up and charged at me again, I didn't know how many more hits I can avoid so I did the thing my teacher told me never to do, I spun around and ran as fast as I could away from him, going in a zig-zag motion to throw him off but that didn't seem to help as his knee went straight into the wall just as I went into a different direction so I wouldn't smack face-first into it, it was like he broke a sound bubble as my ears started ringing, before he could dislodge himself from the hole I punched him in the side as hard as I could.

He cursed and grabbed at the wall to steady himself as his knee popped out then spun around, admittedly slower than last time but if his hair had been an inch closer to my face I would have been knocked out, who the hell was he? some type of android?

"Agent H, where are you? We're already at the entrance" one of my partners I came here with barked.

"I've seemed to have pinned myself between two hard places at the moment, I'll be there with the target in a moment" I answered, mistakenly pausing for a moment, "Shit!"

I slammed into the wall, no doubt making a dent in it as pain filled my cheek and I had to spit out some blood, I looked at 42 just as he went in for another swing which I quickly avoided, "Where are you? I'll send agent K over to help"

"No, that'll make it worse" I warned as I grabbed 42's ankle and used all my strength to throw him away from me, unsurprisingly he was heavy making that hard "I have a plan"

"Well make that plan quick or I'll risk it, the boss is getting cranky"

"If I'm right I should be out here in less than twenty minutes"  I muted my earpiece so I could focus.

If I was correct 42 focused more on just landing a hit while I focused on hitting pressure points, meaning I just needed to get him vulnerable again like when he got stuck in the hole he created. I put my plan in motion by backflipping out the way when he charged at me again, much to my dismay he didn't get stuck as he hit the wall but he did have to stand there for a moment to realize what happened, giving me what I thought was enough time hit the side of his neck from behind but he grabbed my wrist and threw me over his shoulder, I saw stars as my back slammed into the surface behind me but regained my senses quick enough to land on my hands and kick him under his jaw hard enough to make him stumble back.

I got back to my feet and tried to knee him in his side again where his pressure point was but he dodged and charged at me again, I sidestepped away nearly getting elbowed in the stomach, I was reforming my plan in my head as I once again bolted across the room, once I got to the other side of the room I spun around as he smacked into the wall and took my chances kicking him in the small of his back making him hit it again but frustratingly not hard enough to knock him out, only enough to make the expression on his face turn murderous, that smile that never left his face turning from happy to crazy and maybe I was hallucinating from getting swung around by this brute but his eyes turned catlike, I yelped as I ran for my life.

It seemed like this fight was never going to end as I repeatedly got him to slam into the wall but that only made him more murderous and he'd get rougher and faster whenever he managed to catch me, whoever added him to the team must have known what they were doing as I've never had to struggle to just barely escape the grasp of getting tossed like a rag doll, I finally had enough and decided to take the biggest, facing the bull head-on.

I pressed my back against the wall and used it as a boost as I charged right at him while he ran faster than a fright-train at me, I ducked as he swung at me and punched him square in the stomach as hard as I could, must to my surprise and relief he flung back and landed on the ground, curling up in pain and coughing up some blood, finally I won. I walked over and placed my foot on his hip with a shit-eating grin, "I win puppy boy, now tell me what's being hid in this room and where"

As he looked up at me confused the door flew off its hinges and almost knocked me out, enemies bigger and probably stronger started to fill the room, "Shit"

Multiple ran over to me with the intent to kill me and I dodged quickly, making them drop like flies despite my condition and bounced off the wall into the vent I came out of, crawling faster than possible for most in the tiny space and unmuted my earpiece, "I finally got free, but we need to leave, now"

"Did you get the target?" Agent K asked.

"No, some complications came up just as I was going to retrieve it, we'll just have to get it next mission" I sighed, hearing people shout and the ceiling being ripped behind me.

"The boss is going to be pissed" She sighed.

"I know, but he'll probably go easy on us with the information I got"

"We weren't supposed to collect data!" she hissed "It's going to be useless"

"I didn't collect data" I hissed back "They got a new agent"

"and I almost died"

________________________________________________________________________________

"Agent H, you'll be going on a mission with agent J to go retrieve the target from mission I.N.K, please make sure, no matter what complications come up you bring it here" Agent X, the founder of the entire organization, ordered us.

"Yes sir," I said immediately.

"Boss, wouldn't it be easier to complete the mission if we knew what we were looking for?" Agent J pointed out.

I stared at him like he was stupid and should shut it immediately but he was just staring at Agent X with a raised brow, our boss looked at him like his hands would make a great necklace but cracked and sighed, "Use your tablets, it has a tracking device and will let you know when you found it, but I cannot tell you what it is right now as it's classified information"

"That's bull, but fine whatever" Agent J rolled his eyes and adjusted his belt.

"Sorry sir he must've eaten something weird today" I apologized before Agent X could whip out his katana and grabbed Agent J's arm yanking him out the room, "Come on dumbass we have a mission to complete"

"So I'm the only one who thinks this is gonna be a suicide mission since we don't know what we're looking for?" 

"Shut the fuck up"

________________________________________________________________________________

For some reason, whenever I get close to the enemy base, this bafoon is there to chase me!

"I thought you'd never come back to see me Hakeem!"

"Shut it Angelo I'm just on a mission" I sighed as I jumped from tree to tree using my grappling hook to keep me from falling.

"Aw, so no hanging out today?" He whined.

"No, this one's important" I informed him.

How I managed to become close friends with an enemy agent is beyond me, he was just always there when I had to come to his base and a bit often, when I was stationed in town, he used every opportunity he got to "hang out" as he called it, I called it harassment.

Of course, we kept the relationship top secret as we'd both be killed if anyone found out, under that rule was to leave work out of it, meaning no leaking information and no involving either agency into conversation, he had a harder time following that one than the other one but it definitely helped on missions so I didn't scold him too bad when he ended up rambling about some plan he was apart of or overheard, it was just interesting to him as I picked up, we mostly hung out by the docks since no other agent would willingly go near it, for some odd reason they go seasick just from standing on the beach.

Good thing we have another team that stayed in an underwater base for aquatic missions or we'd lose a lot of great agents due to them being pussies, I never minded water, it actually made me calmer than staying on land, I couldn't be around it a lot though as I was constantly on missions in enemy bases as I was the best choice for making everything quick, which was needed in order not to be caught and killed.

"Hey, I've got some free time in two days, why don't we hang out then?" Angelo offered.

"I don't get free time you know this" I reminded him, it sucked, but honestly I wouldn't even know what to do if I was ever put on vacation.

"Oh right... Maybe snag a mission by the docks?" He asked.

"The town has been nothing but peaceful for the past four months there isn't any," I said, trying to focus "Now shut it I was forced to bring someone with me"

"Really?"

"Yes really" I had to keep myself from snapping, even after years I was still not used to him being so nice and bubbly to me especially on missions, he was like a buff pitbull who still thought he was a puppy, dangerous but overly friendly.

"Agent H!" Agent J called after me.

Shit, I forgot he was slower than the baby of a tortoise and snail and accidentally left him in the dust, not that I could slow down as who knows what Angelo was going to do when he caught me, he was like a slots game that went haywire and won't land on anything until you put another coin in, or hit it and after billions of fights with that weirdo the last thing on my mind his hitting him, if I could just see his face I might've been able to see the range of his intentions but that wasn't an option.

"Agent H wait for me you dick!" Agent J yelled.

"Sorry, unless you want me killed or captured I don't think that's a good idea"

"I'd-"

"Angelo shut the fuck up" I hissed in a whisper, he still wasn't used to me having partners on my mission but after word got out that he wasn't just an ordinary enemy agent I've been told that it was safer not to go alone.

I didn't like it either but there was literally nothing I could do to change my bosses mind, not unless I rat out some information about him and I couldn't do that or he'd disappear off the face of the earth in an instant, and I didn't want that, all that could be done was lie about seeing him at all and only bringing him up after I got my ass handed to me, again.

"Wait Agent H, I think I figured it out!"

"Figured what out?" 

"Our target!"

Just before I could ask anything else I heard a loud grunt then a thud not too long after, I quickly switched the mode on my device and used it to safely land on the ground. I ran over to my partner and Angelo the two of them wrestling, I quickly threw a punch and not accidentally knocked my partner into the tree next to them, "What the hell!" he screamed.

Angelo quickly wiggled his way onto his feet and grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arms over mine so I couldn't move them and placing his chin on top of my head, "I got chu" He pointed out the obvious in a sing-song voice.

this boy is going to be the death of me.

"Agent H!" Agent J yelled shocked, I was getting tired of him calling out my name, "Hold on I'll save you"

"Ah ah, I have your friend so you have to do as I say now" Angelo chirped, probably having that big toothy smile on his face.

I was just glad he put up an act so quickly, he'd never actually do anything to hurt me, well, at least not in this situation, he doesn't mind showing me who's stronger when we're forced to battle or as he likes to call them, out little challenges, they're good practice anyway so I can't be too salty, back in my base I'm used as a trainer for new agents because I win so quickly.

"Like hell I will" Agent J whipped out his gun and pointed it at Angelo.

My eyes widened and I stomped on Angelo's foot making him yelp and let me go, I whispered sorry to him as I yanked out my taser and spun around hitting the button when it touched his neck, he collapsed on the ground passed out while my partner stood up, "I said I'd save you" he whined.

God, I wanna go solo again, "You're forgetting, despite being younger I've handled worse than a happy joker, much worse than you"

He huffed but I ignored him and looked at Angelo, it was so weird seeing him without his smile, even in the times he's passed out on me he'd have a tiny smirk on his lips like there was nowhere he'd rather be, now he seemed...weird, and not the type of weird as when we first met. I turned to my partner who was rubbing his temple, "We don't have much time you know, so tell me what you think is the target so I can go find it"

"It's not a it, it's a them," Agent J said "pull out your tablet and point it at this guy"

I looked at him like he was crazy but did as told and whipped out my tablet, the red dot expanded and a beeping sound started, Angelo was the target? but nobody, not even Agent X knew about him until our first interaction, was there another person behind the scenes with this mission? it would explain why our boss couldn't tell us anything.

"Hey, don't just stand there we need to move before we get caught, now lead the way I'm not familiar with these woods yet" My partner snapped.

I glared at him as he threw Angelo onto his shoulder but said nothing and pulled out my GPS setting the location to our base, I always had more important things to do than memorize the way, like not dying and staying hidden so I'm not captured.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Ow!" Angelo yipped as the back of his knees were kicked making him fall.

It was hard standing there and watching as he was manhandled, I wanted to whip out my stun gun and shoot everyone in the room but I couldn't, the look in his eyes was one I only ever saw once, the fear clouded his eyes just like the time the man who raised him walked in on us one time in what I had since learned was the training area, he never did tell me why he got scared as we weren't doing anything friendly with each other, in fact, it was one of the times he was throwing me across the room like a ragdoll again.

"Agent 42" Agent X spoke, snapping me out my daze "Finally we meet, I've heard you've been causing a lot of trouble for my best agent over the past few years"

I gulped as Angelo tried to break free as my boss came closer to him, "I wasn't expecting to see you today of all days, maybe when I burn down your base" Agent X shrugged "Anyway, you have something of mine"

"Agent H, search him"

I let out a silent breath as I kneeled in front of Angelo, he looked terrified and there was nothing I could do to reassure him everything was going to be fine this time, I know my boss and there's a great chance he's going to do something horrible once he's got what he wants. I pat Angelo down feeling something in his shirt, as I ripped it open a necklace was revealed from under the turtle neck, that wasn't the only discovery that mattered to me as I finally realized why it was so hard to defeat him when he wasn't off guard which was rare, his muscles were huge and most likely absorbed most of the shock of every hit landed on him, I, on the other hand, was smaller and leaner to keep from making much noise and being able to fit into tight places, this isn't fair.

"The necklace, hand it over," My boss said impatiently.

"Hakeem..." Angelo squeaked out as I reached behind his neck to undo the accessory.

I gave him a look that told him to keep it down as I tried to gather my thoughts, standing up and handing my boss the necklace I sucked in a breath while he looked at the diamond-shaped pendant then smirked, "Wonderful, finally I have what's rightfully mine back"

"What do we do now?" Agent K asked, obviously bored

"Dispose of him, there's no reason to keep him alive"

I clenched my jaw as the barrel of a gun was buried in fluffy burgundy hair but I couldn't stop myself from speaking, "Wait!"

"What is it child?" Agent X looked at me curiously, I've never questioned his orders before.

"Agent 42 is, just like me, a top spy, don't you think we could get some useful information about the enemy base if we keep him alive for a bit?" I pointed out, hating how everyone was staring at me, but for Angelo's life, I was willing to put up with it.

"Good point..." My boss pondered on the idea, "I'm sure they have better agents up their sleeve, he was just a hiccup in our plans, kill him"

"Wait!" collective groans sounded in the room as I opened my mouth again, "He's the best enemy agent we've encountered so far, if there are better agents they must be trained by the same personel, meaning he'd know about him and be prepared when they do show up if we get him to talk"

"Why do you care so much? If we need info we can just send you out or use a mole" someone piped up.

I glared in their direction, "May I remind you that he didn't come from a small organization, he came from our biggest rival and they are known for quickly snuffing out any mole who penetrates the base, on the first day, we've lost enough agents"

"Agent H is right" Agent X sighed "However I'd rather dispose of him before some little brats break-in on a rescue mission"

"Killing him is only going to make them come"

"Then what do we do with him, child? Let him go? then he's just going to open his mouth and tell his superiors that I have my core back and we'll have bigger problems"

"But killing him is just going to make them send a team out and we're going to have even bigger problems once they realize the core is gone and you killed their golden boy! I say keep him not only as an information leaker but as leverage, the enemy will back off, if only long enough to make an effective plan, then we can dispose of him"

"You dare order me around boy?!" Agent X snarled, I hadn't meant to make him mad but it was too late to go back I was going to have to stand my ground.

"If you want to look at it that way then yes, your plan is going to get us all killed and the town plunged into chaos as you're not thinking clearly," I said sternly, glaring at him with just as much intensity as he did to me.

"Dispose of them both" Agent X barked turning away from us.

If I had been a regular agent I would have shit myself, but I was good at working under pressure and I needed to work fast, I rushed to Angelo and ripped the gun away from his head just as the trigger was pulled making a bullet graze my shoulder, I ignored the burning hot pain and ripped the gun away hitting the guard in the head with the but of it and kicking the other to the ground. Angelo shot up to his feet and forced me to duck just before I got a boot to the face and grabbed the person's ankle, flinging them across the room and into a few others.

I spun around just in time to see my boss about to stab me with his sword and kicked it away, punching him hard enough to make him fly backward immediately after, "Traitors! I knew something was up when you didn't apologize for punching me!" Agent J screeched.

"Jacob, everyone wants to punch you," Agent K said bluntly but he ignored her.

"We have to go, now!" I said, panic finally starting to fill me, and grabbed Angelo's wrist.

I bolted for the door, knocking over everyone who tried to block our way and slammed the door behind us, breaking the lock with my foot and continued running, "Hakeem, your shoulder!" Angelo commented worriedly.

"We don't have time, these doors may be metal but they won't stand long for those nut jobs," I told him, grabbing his wrist again so he wouldn't be left behind.

"You shouldn't be running, it'll make the bleeding worse"

"What?" I looked at my shoulder and sure enough, the bullet grazed me deeper than I thought it did, "I'll be fine, we can't slow down"

"but-"

"But nothing Angelo, that was the founder of our organization and I just broke his jaw, they're pissed and I did not just take a bullet to die fifteen minutes later!"

Just then the door burst open and the hall was quickly being filled with very angry agents, "You're going to die in fifteen minutes if you keep bleeding out like that"

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" I snapped, my anxiety rising as the mob got closer.

"I have an idea" Angelo huffed.

Before I could ask what he slammed a series of doors behind us as we walked past, making more obstacles between us and the mob to slow them down then let go of my hand and stopped in front of one, "What are you doing? we need to go!"

"Hakeem we're spies! we have gadgets" He said in a matter of fact tone and whipped out a gun that I've never seen before.

Before I could yank him away he pulled the trigger and the gun started spewing what looked like hot metal onto the doorframe to mend it with the actual door, even putting it on the hinges then flicked the excess off and put it back into its slot as he whipped around and picked me up, "H-Hey put me down!"

"You have an open bleeding wound, focus on that and just tell me where to go" Angelo ordered as he started bolting down the hallway again.

Grumbling I did as told ripping off the collar of my shirt and used it to put pressure on my shoulder, "It's going to take us longer to get out of here, but when we reach the end of this hall go left and follow the map"

"Alright"

Down the hall, it sounded like they were using someone as a battering ram, whatever Angelo put on the door was sure as hell working. he slammed the door shut once we were out the hall and used the same gun adding on extra then picked me up again going ton the direction I told him to, "What is this, the labyrinth?" He huffed as he looked at the map.

"Think of it more as a detour than a maze, we only use this hall with newbies"

"Why to make them lost?" He said sarcastically.

"No to make them stay out of our way, they tend to clutter the halls like herds of sheep during their first five months of training"

Angelo kept quiet after that leaving us with nothing but the sound of his footsteps and only me with his heavy breathing and racing heartbeat, I clenched my jaw as I listened to it and stared up at him, most of my view was limited to the underside of his jaw but I could also see his hair bouncing around and trying to get in his eyes but kept getting blown back but the breeze he was creating, somehow, hearing his blood run through his veins and seeing him look around for maps made me calmer, the confirmation that he was alive and mostly unscathed made me calmer, looks like I got closer to him then I realized.

I blocked my eyes as we burst through the front door of the building and I was put down much to my dismay, "Do you know the way to town from here?"

"Yeah," I said, slightly dazed.

"Good lead the way" Angelo smiled, I never knew I'd ever be so relieved to see it again, he looked too serious with a frown.

"Hey Angelo..." I stared at him.

"Ya?" He raised a brow.

I couldn't seem to find the words so I pulled him down to my level by the back of his neck and pressed my lips onto his, keeping him there for a moment before pulling back with a smile of my own and my face hotter than a California summer, "Thanks for not immediately killing me four years ago"

His usual smile turned into a shit-eating grin like he was a bastard who just won the lottery, he wrapped his arms around my waist and smashed our lips together again only pulling back when we heard the floor on the inside of the building squeaking, "Thanks for not letting me get killed fifteen minutes ago, now let's book it to town before none of that matters"

"Right, let's go"

And with that, we ran off into the city to ditch the state.