I woke up happily stretching against my bed ready for the day, so I instantly knew something was wrong. I hesitantly looked at my alarm clock, but instead of it reading 6:07am, it was blinking 12:00am instead. I got out of bed to make my way to the kitchen to check the time on the oven. Perhaps it wasn’t as late as it felt. Just as I’d feared, the clock on my oven was blinking 12:00. My small apartment suffered another blackout. This was the third time it’d happened in 2 months. Luckily, the first two times they happened were on weekends, so I hadn’t missed work.

My apartment was so small; I only had to take about six steps before I got into the living room. I turned on the television to find out what the time actually was. It was 10:38am.

“Oh my God,” I shrieked dropping the remote control and running to the bathroom to quickly brush my teeth and wash my face.

I was out the door dressed ad ready to work by 10:43. Five minutes to get ready? That was a new record for me.

Where I worked was less than 15 minutes away from my house, so I made it to work just before 11am.

I worked with the IUIA (International Undercover Investigation Association). In other words, we were spies. Well 80% of the staff was. The rest were secretaries, assistants, hackers and janitors. I was a hacker and mainly all I do is try to hack into our enemy’s computer files, do research, give out assignments and update them. My favourite part of the job is going out to the field to interact with “the bad guys.” Non-physically of course. I go out onto the field through an earpiece in one of our spies’ ears or through a speaker. It’s the closest thing I could ever be to being an “on the field spy.” I can’t shoot a gun or fight to save my life.

After scanning my card to open the door and punching in the code, I was in my favourite place in the world. Being at work made me feel important, it made me feel like I made a difference in the world.

It was my safe haven.

No one seemed to notice my arrival so I quickly made a dash to my desk only to be stopped by my boss.

“Morning boss!,” I said smiling brightly.

“So,” he said putting his hands in his pockets, “were you held hostage for the better part of the morning or did you just decide to show up to work whenever you wanted.?” My boss, Mr.Sherieff, was a no bullshit kind of guy. He was extremely strict but I knew he had a a soft spot for me. This was his way of asking me if I was alright.

“My apartment building had another blackout,” I explained giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t do it again,” Mr.Sherieff said.  I saluted him and he began walking before he could smile, but it was too late, I already saw the corner of his lips curl up.

“Hey, Athena!” my friend Frida greeted loudly from her desk.

I shot her an enthusiastic wave after I put my bag on my desk and slid into my chair. My chair groaned loudly. I would blame the groaning and creaking on the age of my chair but I only just replaced it a month ago. I was gaining weight rapidly. I wanted to lose weight but I love food too much, it’s just not possible.

I logged into my computer when I saw a mug of tea on my desk. There was steam coming out of it so someone must have put it on my desk not too long ago.

“Frida” I hissed from across the room. Frida looked up and raised an eyebrow. I pointed to the mug of tea and pointed to her. Frida was smart, she understood what I meant, but she shook her head and continued doing her work.

I inspected the mug of tea closely and noticed that a lot of it was spilt onto my desk. Whoever put it on my desk had a shaky hand.

No. it couldn’t be.

I looked over at Archie’s desk only to see him looking back at me. He offered me a curt nod and continued looking through his papers.

I can’t believe Archie made me tea.

It was a small gesture but coming from Archie, it was huge. Archie could barely stand without wincing. His right arm was broken as were his ribs and his left leg.  I usually made his coffee because he couldn’t do it for himself, so him doing it for me meant a lot.

Archie was in the state he was because just two weeks ago he and his brother Andy went to arrest some of the most dangerous drug lords in the city. They had been on the case for months. Their plan was to go undercover, gain the trust of the drug dealers and eventually meet the drug lord/supplier. Everything was going exceptionally well. They were about to meet the drug lord himself when things went bad. Somehow, their cover got blown and there was a really bad shootout. Of course, there were other undercover agents near the scene but before they actually got to the scene, it was too late. Andy was killed. Archie was almost beaten to death, but he was saved just in time.

Archie was back on his feet within a week. He was supposed to take 3 to 6 months off work, but he came back early so he could find his brother’s murderers and get his brother’s body.

 After some of the drug dealers were arrested (some got away), there was a search for Andy’s body but it was never found.

I felt really bad for Archie. He was a very kind man, but not many people knew it because he was quiet and didn’t talk to a lot of people. He barely spoke to his brother when they were in the office, but you could tell how much he loved his brother.

I took a sip the tea Archie gave me and smiled. It was exactly how I took it. I wonder how he knew.

“Archie!” I hissed. He looked up at me through his eyelashes. I had to swallow before I spoke again. “Thank you for the tea,” I said lifting the cup.

Archie nodded and carried on working.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tash approaching Archie’s desk. Everyone knew she had a major crush on him, but in her defense, almost every female had a crush on Archie. He was handsome and strong. He was lethal with a gun but he was gentle with a baby. He was the perfect man in every sense of the word.

Archie saw Tash coming from him and quickly got up. Tash doubled her steps to catch Archie before he could limp to the bathroom or wherever he was going to hide.

Tash got to him before he could get three steps away from his desk. From where I sat, I couldn’t hear word either of them said, but it was obvious that Tash was unsuccessfully flirting.

I tore my attention from them and onto my computer. My wallpaper was a picture of my twin sister and twin brother. We were triplets but I was the odd one of the bunch. My brother and sister looked alike but I didn’t. My nose was a bit larger than theirs; I had smaller eyes and freckles. I don’t know where the freckles came from because no one else in my family had them.

Work was normal. I researched, spoke to some spies and updated files. Hacked some accounts and databases. Went for lunch. Came back. Hacked some more.

It was late in the afternoon when I felt a presence watching me. I subtly looked around searching for the creep who was staring at me. I couldn’t find the culprit but the presence was still there, I turned around and standing two inches away from my chair was Archie.

I screamed and jumped out of my chair. I heard several guns clocking as soon as I screamed.

“Sorry,” Archie said lifting his one good arm.

“Archie, what the hell man,” one of the spies said putting away his gun. A few of them smiled when they put their guns away.

“Sorry,” Archie said again smiling.

Archie had unique eyes. They were brown but just around his pupils, they were gold. He had straight white teeth and black hair that he always kept tidy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hair out place. He had a lean but slightly muscular body. It was overly muscled which I really liked.

“What can I do for you, Archie?” I asked after I cleared my throat.

“I need you to help me find my brother’s killer,” he said getting straight to the point.

“Sure,” I said slowly. “I mean, I can help with the research. I can relook at the drug dealers’ files and see what kind of people they associate with. We can set up cameras and stuff.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Archie said pulling up his glasses. Did I mention he wears the most adorable glasses when he’s in the office? When he’s on the field, he wears contacts.

“Then…what did you mean?” I asked fearing his answer. I knew where this was going.

“I need your help on the field. I need you to go undercover with me,” he said without hesitation.

“But I’m not a spy,” I whispered.

“Will you do it, please?” he asked ignoring my previous statement. “For me?”

“I -,”

“For Andy?”

“I cannot be any help on the field, Archie. You need to pick a new partner.”

“I pick you,” Archie said confidently.

“That’s a bad choice,” I sighed.

“It’s my choice.”

“You’re a pain,”

“So are you,” he said smiling a bit.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do without the bosses approval,” I challenged. There was no way Mr.Sherieff was going to say yes.

Archie shrugged, turned around and started making his way to Mr.Sherieff’s office. I reluctantly followed after him.

“Boss,” Archie said as soon as Mr.Sherieff waved us into his office. “Can Athena help me find my brother’s killer and find the drug leader?”

And find the drug leader?! What? He only asked I help find the person responsible for Andy’s death. Not bring down a multimillionaire, psychotic drug lord.

Mr.Sherieff looked at me and I gave him a look that clearly said no, but he must have read it differently because he shrugged and said, “Yeah.”

“What!?” I shrieked. “But I’m not qualified. I have no combat skill or anything. I can’t even hold a gun.”

“Is that all?” Mr.Sherieff asked.

“Yeah,” Archie said walking out the door. “Thanks boss.”

“Mr.Sherieff,” I said freaking out. “I have no skill.”

“Then you’ll learn. This is what you get for being late,” he said giving me a wink.

No. No this is not what I deserve. I don’t deserve risking my life for a few pounds of cocaine or whatever the hell they sell. I deserve to sit at my croaking chair and drink tea.

I stormed out the room and approached Archie. “That’s not cool, Archie.”

“Athena-,”

“No!” I said putting my hand out. “Archie, I am not trained for this. I cannot do this.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Archie said. “You’ll learn everything. It’s not like we’re going out on the field tomorrow. I need to heal and you need to train. It’ll be at least a few more weeks before we get in to action. You’ll be a pro in no time.”

I was about to object when a receptionist called for my help. “This isn’t over,” I said pointing a finger at Archie’s cute nose.

                                                                ********************

After being assigned the operation, things didn’t go right afterwards. For one, I never got a chance to speak my mind to Archie.

My car refused to start so I had to take the bus home and as I was exiting the building when I noticed the downpour of rain.

I didn’t know it was going to rain today so I didn’t bring an umbrella and also because my car was supposed to work.

I was running to the bus stop so I could get out of the rain but the traffic light was red. I was standing as patiently as I could waiting for it to go green when suddenly, I couldn’t feel raindrops on me anymore. I looked up and Archie was standing beside me holding an umbrella over our heads.

He winked at me.

“Thanks,” I said pointing at the umbrella.

“No problem,” he said with a small smile.

“Thank you for helping me with finding Andy.”

I didn’t want to do it but I had to. Mr.Sherieff had ordered me to afterall.

“Sure,” I said. I felt a bit sick to my stomach. I can’t kill anyone. I don’t want to die.

“Seriously,” Archie said bumping his shoulder against mine. “I really appreciate it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said looking into his eyes. When his gaze got too heavy, I looked forward. “Hurry up, the light’s green.”

“Yes ma’am,” Archie said as he began to limp across the street. “If it’s any consolation, we can have a team name.”

I thought hard about it before I looked at him and said, “The A-Team.”