Chapter 25: Deployment

I come up to Carol after the meeting. She is talking to an agent in the hall just outside the briefing room. Somehow the agent looks familiar but I can't place my finger on it.

Noticing me, Carol ends her conversation and strolls over to me.

"Can I help you Tony?" She smiles.

"Yes, well you tell me. You see MetalKid is like a poor 2010s rendition of the band Metalica. It just doesn't make sense."

Carol smiles and pats me on the shoulder.

"Mitchell said you were like your father!"

There it is again! Like my father! What is with these people?

Carol catches the look on my face and changes the subject.

"MetalKid was what our engineers came up with, if you can think of a better one we will make arrangements. Sound good to you?"

I agree and we part ways, I have to think of a new codename. And fast.

*******

We were deployed twelve hours later, after we had gotten a fair amount of sleep and additional training.

The flight had been entertaining for the rest of the teenagers but not for me. I was still trying to think of a codename that would, well, make people regret rock music.

We arrive in Russia at 0800 hours and morph our new suits into tourist clothes. Nicholas was still playing Angry Birds and I didn't blame him. That game can keep anyone occupied longer than one would want.

Honey and Conn had gone to the back of the aircraft to eat. There was a whole buffet in the back of our plane. With every food one could think of. It was so big in fact it gave the great Food Corral a run for it's money.

"You know I don't think people are used to seeing these watches, just like muggles aren't accustomed to seeing a flying car." Bea remarks looking down at her futuristic wristwatch.

Nicholas stares up at her. "What's a muggle?"

Bea rolls her eyes and sits down on a nearby seat.

"I don't think it's really that noticible." Conn disagrees.

Our plane was taxiing down the runway to the unloading zone.

I sit beside Bea. "How are you today?" I smile.

"And what exactly would you like?" she rolls her eyes. I hadn't quite figured her out yet.

"Well it would be nice to know who exactly I am working with. I haven't heard a word out of you almost since I met you."

She smiles "Pretty much a nobody, I have no living family, I was given up for adoption when I was really young. To Oprey Orphanage. At four I was recruited by S.P.E.A.R. I was supposed to get information about my family for it but never did. When I was twelve I went under their radar and hacked their files to see what they had on me. Turns out I was the daughter of Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. When my dad died in the war my mom gave me and my twin brother up in the orphanage, so we could be safe. The files said my brother died in the orphanage. I assume he died when the war broke out, it collapsed the whole west wing of the orphanage, few made it out." She sighed. "I have nowhere to go so I work with S.P.E.A.R.. The pay is decent but I have nowhere to use it. They don't seem to even know my real name, it's not on file, just my parents names. This necklace," She pulls out a necklace from around her neck. "was a gift from my mom before she gave me up. No note to go with it, just a necklace. Inside is nothing but a picture of her and dad the other side is empty. It's Just a half empty locket. Perhaps it had something in there before but I will never know."

I put my hand on her shoulder "I'm sorry." she gives me a small smile.

"Thank you. You actually seem like a nice boy. Underneath that smart mouth and all."

I let out a laugh.

"Well thanks."

The captain interrupts our little heart to heart with a message across the aircraft's private intercom.

"We have landed and you are about to be deployed, good luck! You may exit."

The doors open and we walk out onto the airport's pavement, Nicholas turns off his game and I can see him focusing back in on the real world.

We head for the hotel we were instructed to stay at and settle in. To blend in, we then head out to get dinner. I am the only one of us that can naturally speak Russian. Bea can as well but she uses her powers, so it is cheating and doesn't count. Those who can't speak or understand russian use their suits to translate. I talked Carol into building the translation program of V.I.S.A. into the suits before we left. Nobody can tell the difference. It sounds fluent.

After dinner we head back to our hotel room and get ready for tomorrow's mission. We have two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. We check the room for any listening tech, set out our equipment, set our alarms on our watches and head to bed. Tomorrow is going to be one heck of a day.