I come to in a cramped position. My muscles are aching, and my eyes feel heavy. Nevertheless, I manage to get myself upright in a sitting position and look around. Edward is still slumped on the floor next to me, and a bright light flicks on above us.

"My apologies for your treatment, but we couldn't risk you interfering." A man that looks vaguely familiar bends down to tie something around my hands. I look down to see cloth tying them. Black cloth.

"Ugh, got anything in a beige? I'm seriously doomed to wear black my whole life." I say, annoyed.

He laughs, doing the same to Edward. "It's a pity, you could be an entertainer when you grow up.

"Not my style. If you've tampered with my stuff, I'll have your job."

"It's all here, darling, rest assured." He drops the camera on the table above me. "Feel free to take as many photos as you like. Wait.. I forgot, you can't." He laughs again. Something about his voice seems SO familiar but I can't place it."

"Uh..." I remember our spy training. Whenever you're captured, it said, always try to find out as much as you can about the enemy's plan."Why are you doing this?"

He laughs. "You're not a very good spy, are you? I should assume you already know. Edward has one of the most brilliant minds in all of the history of science, and now it's mine to use. He will make his little disintegrater and then we will be the best in the world!"

"Do you work for SKUL?" I ask carefully.

His laugh disappears. "No, no I do not work for SKUL, and telling you that, miss, would be giving you too much information. Farewell. I will see you soon, yes?"

He leaves as quickly as he came in and I start to claw at the cloth, but he seems to know his knots. They're not budging. "Edward? Edward!" I hiss, trying to nudge him but careful not to fall on top of him. 

His eyes flutter open. "Eh? Huh?"

"Don't panic... but I think we've been kidnapped..."

"Oh." He nods slowly, then falls back asleep again. I sigh and continue to work my way free.

AMBER'S POV

"We're almost there! In fact..." I stop outside a huge concrete building. "Is this it?"

"Yeah, this is the place." Jayce bends down next to the outside wall and puts the listening device on it. "TIme to find out where they are..."

"Is that...?" I start.

"Shhh! I hear voices!" He waves me aside and I pick up the set of headphones and listen intently.

"Are they set?" A voice asks. It's muffled.

"Yes, I saw to it personally. Edward will be all ours presently." Says a voice that sounds familiar. It almost sounds like...

"One of the army personel?" I ask, confused.

"It couldn't be, they were protecting Ed, not kidnapping him." Jayce sounds scornful.

"And the girl? You could have got rid of her half a mile back on the road." The other voice sounds strained.

"Relax. She's not going anywhere, and besides that, since when were you ever to question my orders? She might be just the thing we need to get into Edward's mind. Never know how tightly he keeps a lid on all his 'secrets.'" I can almost see the man grinning and roll my eyes.

"What are we waiting for?!" I ask Jayce. "Leah and Edward are in trouble, let's go!"

We keep on the look-out for guards and go along the outside walls, Jayce following his spy-pod that links with Leah's communicator.

"Got it!" He stands outside a doorway, smiling. "This is going to be fun." He gathers all his strength and I frown and point to the door handle. He ignores me and with one great kick, the door caves in, crashing to the floor. He somewhat sprawls on the ground, half recovering, then groans and straightens up. "I.. really should practice that more often." He says with a small laugh.

"Now might be a good time to tell you, that while you might have gotten us into the room, we could have done it without alerting every person within 100 yards of us. The door was unlocked, Jayce."

"Oh, well." He grins sheepishly. "Can't be too careful, can we?"

We run over to the table and Jayce picks up Leah's communicator. Well, what's left of it.

"Darnit!" He sighs with annoyance. "Here's the communicator - broken." He puts it in his pocket and bangs the table, frustrated. "This place is huge. How are we going to find them?"

"That could be arranged if you come with us..."

We both spin around, Jayce immediately takes a step back, raising his arms behind his head, stepping backwards. Huh. And he's meant to be the man in this situation. And then I take a second look and gasp.

“Steve?! What are you doing here?” I feel the blood freeze in my veins. Standing in front of us is General Steve Sparks – the man who was meant to be protecting Edward.

Leah's POV

“I think... if we can get over to the table then we can somehow cut the...” I sigh, realizing it's useless.

“Don't worry,” Edward says soothingly. “I'll give them what they want and then they'll let us go.”

“You don't believe that and neither do I.” I sigh. “Wait, do you still have that disintegrater? Maybe we can use it.”

“Look around, maybe it's here somewhere.”

“It's on the table. Obviously military freak hasn't had a chance to disintegrate anything yet.”

“It's a dangerous tool!” Edward says. “If you had any idea of its power... It could wipe out an entire... community if properly wielded. It could charge up the...”

“Yeah, all I heard was: blah blah... blah blah blah.” I manage to get myself up standing, then stagger forwards and manage to get myself over to the table. “Yes! Here it is. It's in a secured box, though. I don't know how to get it out.”

“Maybe we can help?” I look around, alarmed, and turn to see Jayce and Amber pushed into the room. Jayce smiles wryly.

It takes a second for me to realize that they've been caught too, and then about a minute for me to get annoyed at them.

“Guys! This place is huge! How the heck did you manage to get captured?”

“My fault.” Jayce admits, with a short smile. We watch the group of military officers exit the room, and then I flip out at him again.

“How could you be so stupid?! Do you realize that now we're trapped here and we're never going to be able to find a way out and... and making loud noises certainly doesn't help...”

“I tried to tell him that.” Amber says soberly.

“Ladies, please. I had it all under...” Jayce struggles for a moment and then his handcuffs clatter to the floor. “...control.”

“...how...?!” Leah's mouth drops to the floor.

“Spy training level 6. I think that was the class you missed.” Jayce jokes.

“No, that was the one that I slept through.” She admits as she rubs her wrists. “How do you get out of handcuffs?”

“If you had noticed, Amber, I wanted to get caught. I guessed that they'd put us in the same room.”

“But you didn't even fight them!” Amber complains.

“I wasn't intending to. Leah, handcuffs are like a keyhole – they need something to imitate a key to put in them. When I stepped back, Amber, I saw you had a few too many bobby pins in your hair.” He tosses her the pin he'd just used to undo his handcuffs.

“OK, Jayce, I've got to give you credit. But if we run up against guards, can we fight them?”

Jayce laughs, delight in his eyes. “Yes. Yes we will. Since Mr. Stiff has taken the device, delivering Edward won't be much use without it. No offence, Ed.” He looks at the scientist apologetically. “But if they get their hands on it, no telling what they'd do. Girls, go back to HQ and I'll get the disintegrater.” “NO!” We both say together. “Jayce, we're a team! Does that mean anything to you?”

His eyes soften slightly. “I'm only trying to protect you. This is dangerous.”

“And that's what we expected when we signed on to be a spy.” Amber pleads.

“No.” Jayce nods quickly then runs full pelt out of the room.

“I'm following him.” Amber says determinedly. “Leah, take Edward back to HQ.”

For once, I don't argue with her. She may be insane sometimes and not someone I'd hang out with normally, but I've had my fill of adventure for the day – week even.

AMBER'S POV

I run down the hallway, heart pounding. Danger is at every turn. I've long since lost sight of Jayce. Then I hear something that sounds like someone hitting the floor. My immediate instinct is to rush into the room, eyes blazing, hands clenched and ready, but my training comes back, and I peek past the slightly ajar door. I see the pen, right away, lying on the table, and about 4 military guys are crowding around something. Jayce. I think, feeling sick, and I keep looking silently. As the 4 guys back off, I see Jayce, huddled in the corner on his knees, groaning and clutching his stomach.

“That's what we do to brats like you.” Steve growls. “The pen is safe, and there is nothing you can do about it. You and your mangy friends can take Edward, but the pen is safely in our posession”

I hear Jayce stammer out something but I can't hear what it is. My eyes are on the ceiling, where scaffolding his set up, evidently building something. To get up, I scale the wall, careful, turning at every noise, and then gently climb the ladder. I hear another thump and feel sick again as I think of Jayce, and then I force myself to look, where Jayce is crushed against the wall, and he shuts his eyes in pain. I have to move fast, I realize, before they seriously injure him. I scale the scaffold and run as lightly as possible across the top, and then I realize that the best chance I have is if I jump down and grab the pen then I can use it as leverage. It might work.

I land in a sort of half crouch, seeing as I haven't done that much jumping before, and grab the pen, holding it out. Everyone turns around, and I wave it in front of me. “Let him go. The pen's more important.”

“Yes it is...” Steve advances slowly, eyeing me cautiously.

“I'm not afraid to use it!” I say threateningly. But it's a bluff – I don't know how to use it.

“Go ahead, then.” The military men form a human barrier. Jayce glares at me from where he's still on the floor, and struggles to his feet.

“Amber...” He starts to object.

“Jayce, we're a team. And team members never let each other down. Come and get it, guys.” I make a break for the doorway. These guys obviously know how to run – and run fast, but I have an advantage. I'm small and fast. That's why I won the running race after all.

I run out of the building, surprised to find the exit because it is a rabbit warren in there. And when I do I almost run into someone. Someone who does a little annoyed squeal.

“Leah?!” I guess in amazement. The guys thunder after us, and I turn to her. “No time for questions. I know you're no karate expert. We can do this if we do it together. I've got a plan...”

LEAH'S POV

This better work. I think as I crouch behind the bush. Amber stands in the middle, waiting. Her blond hair catches the wind and she holds our mock pen in one hand. Then the military force comes running through the door, take one look and charge after her. She starts running, giving me one look. I turn the pen on, hearing it buzzing, and then use it to start cutting the steel poles above their heads.

“Come on!” I mutter carelessly to myself. Amber ducks under a pole, and then it gives way as the pen cuts through it, crashing down between Amber and the military guys. At least 3 of them are knocked out when Amber jumps over the low lying pole to face the one that managed to survive.

“You really don't think that you're going to beat me by yourself, do you?” He asks, snarling.

“No, but 2 against one is a little fairer, don't you think?”

Everyone's mouths drop open as Jayce appears seemingly out of nowhere to stand beside Amber.

I look at Jayce, wonderingly. “But...” I start.

“I'm fine.” Jayce says with a curt smile. “I won't let you down again.”

Steve suddenly lurches forwards, and Amber stops him with a massive karate kick. His arm meets Jayce's and Jayce twists it around, throwing him to the floor.

“NOBODY MOVE! MI9!” Jayce pins Steve to the ground as Oscar comes running into the complex.

Kyle's lip curls in frustration as he sees his favourite agents pinning down the suspect. “I want these teenage spies disbanded at once! They jeopardised the mission and almost got Edward killed.”

“It's true, I did say that there was something in the trees,” Leah climbs from behind her bush. “But Steve was the one that pointed it out to me – and he pushed for everyone to check it our. I understand if you don't think we're worthy of being spies, but it was my fault, not theirs. If you fire anyone, make it me.”

“No way. You fire Leah, you fire me.” I can't believe I'm standing up for this person, but she's not all bad I guess.

“Jayce?” Leah looks at him.

“Sure.” He smiles, then without warning he drops rather abruptly to the ground.

“Jayce!” I run over with Leah on my heels. “What's wrong?”

“Cole!” Sparks barks angrily. “What about the mission? I will be bringing this up with the head of MI9.”

“Then go ahead.” Oscar says coldly. “My first duty is to my agents. Jayce?” He looks down at Jayce's closed eyes. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, Yeah I'm OK.” He says faintly, opening his eyes. “I just felt sick all of a sudden. Those brutes must have hurt me more than I realized.”

“Case wrapped up. You did a good job, team.” Oscar pulls Jayce to his feet. “Are you cool, man?”

Hours later...

“So what will happen to everyone?” Leah asks.

“Steve and his military men will be going to prison for a long time. Edward said, that although his pen was one of his greatest inventions, he's planning on destroying the pen and the instructions on how to make it. He said it's not worth all the drama he'd put his new best friends through. And Sparks will cool down.” Oscar puts an arm over our shoulders as we head back to the MI9 vehicle. 

"So we're not fired?" Leah asks timidly. "I mean... spying isn't really my thing, but I've gotten used to it."

"You're not fired." Oscar laughs. "Not yet, anyhow."