The Watchmen Files // File One // Chapter Fifteen // Game On

Hey everybody!

I've got another chapter for you :)

   Well, yesterday I saw the blue sky and this glowing yellow thing in it :) It felt like Spring at last! You never know how much you miss a season until you have seemingly endless days of grey and white skies. It makes me happy :) Plus, this book is suppose to take place in the Summer/Fall of 2012, which I haven't done a good job at communicating... But I'll try and work on that, and it's hard to write something you're not feeling.

Right, on to the chapter!

   "Sir?" A scrawny secretary stuck his head into Jason's Gray's office. "Sargent M.B.G. is here to see you."

   "Bring him in," Jason half-heartedly waved his hand at the kid and continued scanning the pile of papers about recruitment logistics. Upon hearing the door open and close quietly, he didn't bother to look up but gestured to the visitor's chair across from his desk where he was comfortably seated. "Recruits are way down," he noted offhandedly. "And it's only August! We're worn thin all across the States, not to mention the guys we need in France and England right now."

   "I heard about that," his visitor commented in his Scottish accent. "It's been a rumor for some time now."

   "I don't know what to do about this," Jason sighed and leaned back in his chair. "But that's not what I called you here for. You're doing good Graham, though we could have used you with those other trainees you had been assigned to originally. You're one of the best trainers around, I hope you know that."

   Sargent Mike Graham nodded, propped his feet up on the young director's desk and making himself at home. "You've got other trainers. These boys needed me here."

   Jason threw an annoyed glance at Graham's propped up boots. "Whatever. Over three months time since we transferred them from T Facility 24 you've got them ahead of schedule, they're training like brothers. They're at the top of the rookie chart, you know."

   "Humph," Graham muttered. He had never really cared for logistics, he was a field agent after all.

   "Enough of small talk, despite the lively conversation," Jason pulled out a slim black iPad and slid it across the table. "Down to business."

   Graham clicked the On button, and swiped the screen. As he read his face grew more serious. "That didn't take long."

   Jason smirked and nodded. "Long enough. We've been analyzing the data for months and it took five undercover agents to uncover this, but you have to move fast, in the next thirty minutes at the most."

   His eyes narrowed at Jason's wording. "What do you mean you?"

   "Oopsy, sorry, I meant M.W.K. and C.J.M. You're not going."

   "What?" Graham sputtered. "They're not even finished with training, much less ready for a full fledged mission! And even if I did think that they were ready, I'd definitely go with them."

   "Look here Mikey," Jason leaned forward and pointed a pencil at him. "The kid wanted to be in on this. We need you in other places. It's yes, we've located the little kiddo or no, and BOOM!" He threw his hands into the air for emphasis. "Our chance is gone. It's your choice, ol' boy."

   "Don't call me that," Graham studied his shoelaces thoughtfully. They could die out there. "I've got only one option then," he stated flatly. "It's not my call. I can't go sending those two immature young men who haven't even finished training yet into the field like this. They're not my lives to risk."

   "You can't just say you don't know!" Jason insisted.

   "I'm not. I'm going to ask them what they think before they risk their lives out there," he emphasized them, they and their for drama's sake.

   "Fine. But you've gotta hurry it up, you leave in twenty-three minutes."

   "What are you getting at?" Mason had been laying on his stomach, looking down at Conner from the top bunk of their bunk beds as he rattled on about human nature and physiological hooey he didn't fully understand for a half-hour, and he was ready to cut to the chase.

   "Okay," Conner sighed and pulled out a iPad from the desk next to where he was seated. "Let me start over. Basically, it goes something like this...

   Since we've already established that humans are, by nature, not good," he carefully tossed the iPad up to Mason, who caught it easily and opened the tab that showed a picture of a man he had heard of all over the place.
   "Then I would direct your attention back to Dr. Abraham Erskine, who invented the first Super Soldier Serum long before your father did. One of the things he did with it and the reason he chose Steven Rodgers is because he was small, gentle, and didn't like bullies. He was a Christian and a good man. Dr. Erskine himself said that the S.S.S. would make a 'good man great, and a bad man worse'. It would enhance the spirit of a man, the personalities, their heart would grow much more noticeable.

   Look, you really are a good guy. You're funny, and you want to help those you care for. But that's not enough. You still have your human nature. I... I think that's why you can be so uncontrollable. That's why that thing holds so much power over you. You can't control it, not by yourself."

   Mason stared at the device, not knowing what to say to him. What could he say? "Con, I don't think I'm ready for that..."

   "I'm not trying to push you," Conner carefully worded. "You asked me what I thought about your ability, so I was just saying-"

   "I know, I just... I don't know," Mason rubbed his face and shook his head. "Whatever. You're probably right. It sounds reasonable-"

   "Boys?" Graham, their training Sargent peeked through their door. He looked bothered and on edge.

   Conner told him to come in and he stood next to Conner and Mason, who had hopped off of his bunk and took a seat alongside Conner. "What's up?"

   The Sarge shifted uncomfortably, took a minute to compose his thoughts and handed each of them a file folder. "Since Mason came here, we've been investigating a piece of a new type titanium that Hydra used as a coating on both the inside and out of the chopper that was suppose to pick the agents and Mason up in the attack on apt. 34 C., but failed to. Since titanium is something that's the Krugers can't break, they were going to use it to contain him. It's taken us months to locate where it was manufactured, but we caught 'em. Sort of."

   Conner examined a page with a picture and building plans of a factory, and a big one at that. "This was built in the sixties, but it say at the bottom that it was closed in 2005?"

   "It was," Graham nodded. "We found out that an illegal group known as InterTech has been working there, since the property still hasn't been sold. And you can guess what they've been working on."

   "This titanium coating that was suppose to stop me?" Mason raised an eyebrow.

   "Exactly. And now they're moving out, job's finished. It's your job to get in, find their paper work, where it was suppose to be delivered to, etc., get outta there unnoticed, and we can track Hydra from there and hopefully it'll lead to your cousin. But I can't go with you boys, I've got other obligations to tend to. It would just be the two of you. Can you handle that?"

   Mason side-glanced at Conner, who nodded nervously. Confidently, he turned back to Graham. "Game on."

Okay, that's it! The next chapter is going to be fun (action wise)! I think :/ I'm still open for action writing tips, btw. I don't like writing those... But anyway, tell me vat yo tink :)

Now, on to announcements...

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Hum... I have nothing to announce...

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Ah! Thank you, Willow! Okay, she said to tell you readers that she hopes to do the next chapter this week. She's kinda busy, but she'll try :)

Okay, so if you've missed a chapter of T.W.F. or any other story, you can (if you'd like) check out our Story Links page to find links to each and every chapter (Willow puts them on there).

Well, there's nothing else to announce... a very uneventful week, might I say...

Always Watching,

Darrion

P.S., I know that you guys think that the Always Watching thing is fine, so I'll keep on using it :) Though it sounds like someone's stalking me, if you read it together. Always watching Darrion. Hum... I can just totally ruin any saying, can't I? ;)