Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Back to Work

I look over at Angela, who is lining up a shot on the pool table. "You need to hit the three ball into the five ball to make a pocket." "Shhhh. I need to concentrate." She smacks the cue ball and executes the move perfectly, pocketing the five ball. "Yes! Only the three ball left honey." She lines up the shot, but just as she begins to draw her stick back, so stops and clutches her stomach. "You ok?" "Yea. I think it was the twins kicking around." She lines up her shot again and shoots, potting the three ball. "Wo! Nice shot!" She does a slight courtesy. "Thank you, thank you." My mother speaks up from the bar. "I swear you two are perfect for each other." Angela lines up the shot for the eight ball. She draws her stick back and fires, missing the cue ball entirely as she doubles over. I hear a familiar splashing sound. "Richard." "Yup, on it." I call Dr. Gilderoy while running downstairs to get the car ready. "Hi. Can I speak to Dr. Gilderoy please?" "One moment…. This is Dr. Gilderoy, who am I speaking with?" "Hi, yes, doctor? It's time. The twins are coming." "Right. I'll get ready." I hang up the phone and bolt into the garage, starting up the Bently Bentayga and fastening two car seats in the back. I run back into the house and help Angela down the stairs and into the car. I make sure the seats are intact before slamming the accelerator and flying down the drive. I merge us onto the highway like before and a little while later we pull into the office parking lot, tires squealing. I pick up Angela and run inside with her. Dr. Gilderoy is already waiting for us, ready to go. I take Angela into the delivery room and set her on the bed. A few tense moments pass. There is a lot of screaming and then, silence. "Congratulations. You now have two healthy twins." Dr. Gilderoy takes the two and examines them, much like she did James. She then swaddles them both in blankets and hands them to Angela. "Do you have names picked out?" "Yes. The girl will be called Krystal, and the boy is Jack." "Middle names?" "Both will have the name Aharon." "Got it." She walks off to a computer and types some information in. "How do you spell Krystal?" "K-R-Y-S-T-A-L." She types some more, then goes over to a nearby printer and hands me the birth certificates. I turn back to Dr. Gilderoy. "Is there anywhere I can, ya know, get the cord snipped? Because three kids is plenty. I don't need anymore." She chuckles "I can perform a vasectomy here. You do remember that, while small, this is a full hospital, right?" "This is a hospital?" "Yes, it is." "Well, how early can you squeeze me in?" We both look over at Angela, who is asleep. "I can do it now while she rests." "Perfect." She takes me out of the delivery room and into another, small operating room. She hands me a small razer, a pill, and a gown and points to a changing room. "I need you to take the pill, change into the gown, and shave your area." "Ok." I do as she says, exiting the changing room a few minutes later. "Ready?" "As I'll ever be." She has me lay down on the table and a few minutes later, finishes the procedure and helps me up. "Alright, you're good to go." I change back into my clothes and gingerly walk back to the delivery room to see Angela. I carefully take the twins from her and set them in the nearby cribs before falling asleep on a chair myself. I wake up the next morning to see Angela already awake and tending to the twins. She looks over at me. "Morning sweetie." "Morning. Are you ready to leave today?" "Yea. I think so." I walk out of the hospital and prepare the car. A little while later, Angela walks out, holding the twins in her arms. She hands them to me to strap into the car seats before getting in herself. I load into the driver's seat and we set off for home. We walk back into the house to see my parents sitting on the couch with James, who is asleep on my mother's lap. When they see us, my mother puts James in a crib nearby and her and my father approach us. "Well, lets see the little ones dear." Angela hands the twins to my mother, who accepts them gingerly. "Oh they're adorable! Do you know the species yet?" "They're both foxes. Jack got some of your arctic fox genes, so we don't know about him. We do know that Krystal will be a red fox, like me. We'll start to see their fur color in about six weeks." My father leans in to see them. "You know you can hold them Dad. They're not toxic." "I'm alright just lookin at em." Angela looks at my mother. "How was James? Did you find all of his stuff ok?" "He was perfect. Very quiet, too." "And the milk? What did you use?" "Don't worry dear, we, er, I used the bottles you labeled in the fridge." Angela sighs with relief and tries to hide it. "Well, I should probably take care of those two." I take the twins back from my mother and take them up to their room. When I come back, Angela and my parents are sitting on the couch, looking at me. "Something wrong?" "Nothing dear. We were just wondering what to do now." What does that mean?" "Like, what's the next chapter in our lives?" "Oh, well I should probably call into the agency, let them know I'm back online. What about you Angela?" "Well, I don't really know. I never really got a degree. And I'm not too good at much." "Hmm. Do you just want to stay at home and take care of things around here?" "Don't we have butlers for that?" "Right." A few silent moments pass. "I'm going to make a phone call." I get up before any questions can be asked and walk into the study, closing the door behind me. Right now, it looks like any normal home office. A few chairs, a large wraparound desk with a couple of monitors on it. A bookshelf in one corner. The normal. I walk over to the desk and flip a switch underneath it. Around me, the office transforms into a full out command center like something out of a space movie. I pull up the holographic keyboard and press a few buttons. A minute later, the face of Scott Moore, the lead agent at Interpol pulls up on my screen. "Ah, Richard! So good to see you again." "Good to see you too sir." "Tell me, how's the family?" "They're good. In fact, I'm now married with three kids." "Three! Not bad kid." "Thanks." "So, are you returning to service?" "Yes sir, but, I had a question." "Yes?" "How do I get a partner?" "Did you have someone in mind?" "My wife sir." "What qualifications does she have?" "That's the problem. She has none." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "Hmmm. I shouldn't be doing this, but with everything you've done for the agency, I trust you. How much do you trust her to assist you?" "I would trust her with my life, sir." "Then I see no problems in making her your partner, but promise me to keep this under wraps for now." "Aye aye captain." Scott cracks a slight smile. "I need to create an ID for her. Do you mind bringing your wife here?" "Sure. One moment." I pop out of the study and walk over to Angela. "Honey, can I see you for a second? Over here?" "Uh, sure." I pull her into the hallway. "I need you to keep quiet about this, ok?" "What's going on?" "How do you feel about working for Interpol?" "Wait, what?" "Come in here." I lead her into the study, Scott is still on call. "Ahhh, this must be the wife. "Yea, I'm his wife. What's going on here?" "Your husband has asked me to give you a job as his partner , and I agreed. I just need to ask you some questions." "O-ok. Fire away." "Height" "6' 5" "Weight" She glances back at me. I plug my ears. "158" "Age" "23" "Full given name" "Angela Pattermore-Melacine Senna." "Nationality" "Icelandic" "Citizenship" "United States of America" "And species" "Canis Lupus, Timber Wolf" "Now raise your right appendage and repeat after me. I, state your name, do somley promise to protect the nations of the world at any cost." "I, Angela Pattermore-Melacine Senna, do somley promise to protect the nations of the world at any cost." "Well then. It's official. Congratulations you two. You're now partners. Richard?" "Yes sir." "Teach her the reins well." "You got it." The screen goes blank as Scott hangs up. I flip the switch under the desk, returning the study to normal before leaving the room with Angela behind me. As we walk into the living room, my father notices us. "What was that all about?" I look at Angela and give her a nod. "Richard is back in service and I'm his new partner." My parents both stare at us for a minute before my mother speaks up. "Well congratulations to the both of you." "OH! I just remembered!" I turn to Angela. "We need to get you kitted out, Agent Senna." "Kitted out?" "Yea, c'mon." I grab her hand and lead her into the shower. "Um, if you wanted to get dirty, you could have just asked me." " What? No, watch this." I walk over to the far wall and press some buttons. The wall opens to reveal a massive armory. The walls and ceiling are all lined with various weaponry and armor. "Eh?" "What. The. Actual. Fuck." "Pick your poison, which might be poison. I have that." "You have a WEAPONS ARSENAL?!?" "Yup. This is the small one." "THE SMALL ONE!?" I push a button on the wall and a staircase appears in the floor. I turn back to Angela, who looks hysterical. "You ok honey?" "Yea, I'll be fine. I just need some time to process this all." "Do you not like guns?" "No, opposite. I LOVE shooting shit." "Well you'll like it down here then." I lead her downstairs to a massive bunker-like room. In the center is an M1A1 Abrams tank, fully equipped and ready to go. Off to the left side is a garage with several more tactical vehicles. To the right is full weapons stock, with everything from Uzi's and Desert Eagle's to miniguns and even a few experimental weapons. Angela runs her hand along a railgun, gazing at the Abrams "You have a tank?" "17 of them actually." "17?!" "Yup." "And what, might I add, do I have my hand on?" "That would be a railgun." "A railgun. You have a railgun?" "You've got your hand on it." "Please tell me you have a shooting range." "Of course I do." "Can we fire the tanks?" "Why do you think I choose to live all the way out here?" I show her into the tank garage, which holds a Leopard II, Challenger I, Chieftain MK V, Scimitar, BMP-1, KV-85, IS-2, Type 2 KA-MI, MK III Valentine Infantry, Sherman Crab, Ripsaw, M3 Stuart, PZKPFW III, Renault FT 17, MK V MALE, Sturmpanzerwagen A7V, and a 9A317 Telar. I open a locked box revealing several keys inside. "Take your pick." I walk over and open the steel roll door, which leads outside to a large dirt track with several targets placed around it at random. Angela comes over to me. "Which ones are the keys to the missle one?" "Bottom row, far right." "Thanks!" She runs back over to the key box, grabs a set, and runs to the 9A317 Telar. "How do you get in?" I walk over and open the main hatch, letting Angela in. "The gunner position is in the back." I climb into the driver's seat and close the hatch before firing up the tank and leaving the bunker. "Try to aim for the furthest targets." "Already locked honey. FIRE!" I hear the rocket disengage from the holster and see it travel out to smash a large, far off target. "Aww, why didn't it explode?" "I can't own actual missiles. I'm not legally allowed to. The best I can get are these dummy rockets. They fire, but don't explode." "Oh, ok. Lemme fire one more then we can go back." "Your call." I hear another missile fly out of the tank and see it smash a closer target. "Nice shot." "Thanks." I pilot the tank back into the bunker and climb out, helping Angela out as well. "Now, it's time to get serious and fit you to a few weapons." "I can't just use the tank?" "I wish honey, I wish." She walks over to a wall lined with my biggest guns and points to a rocket launcher. "What about that?" "Let's start a little smaller." I walk over to a center command console and press a few buttons. A wall of small assault rifles, handguns, and other weapons comes forward. "You need a light, small weapon on you anytime we need to be stealthy. It's pretty hard to be stealthy with a rocket launcher." "Fine." She picks up a set of double Uzi's. "What about these?" "Perfect. Now you need a middle weapon, then big, then we can go all out." "Great." I press a few more buttons and a small rack pops out of the floor. "This will be your weapons rack. All of your personal weapons will be stored here." She puts the Uzi's in the small weapon spot and walks over to a will lined with machine guns. She picks up an MG-34. "That works." She smiles and puts it down on the rack before walking back over to the large weapons. She takes a triple barrel chaingun off the wall and looks at me, smiling. "Why the hell not. I use two of them." She puts the gun on her rack and walks back over to me. "Do I need anymore?" "Nope. Now we need to fit you to armor." "Armor? Is this going to be like video game armor thats not really armor but just an iron bra?" "No." I press a few buttons and turn a dial on the console. The weapons walls turn around to show off several different armors, with everything from kevlar vests to a full exosuit. I push a button, moving a lightweight kevlar suit based off the suit Krystal wore in Starfox Assault. "Why do you have this?" "Uhhh, no comment." She rolls her eyes and smiles at me. "I swear if it fits, I don't know what I'll do to you." "What are the chances it's a hug?" "Slim." She takes the suit down and, over a long struggle, manages to put it on. The suit automatically sinches up to fit her as perfectly as possible. "Self sizing. Not bad. I'll let you slide this time mister." She stretches out and does a few jumping jacks. "For how heavy it looks this thing is really light." "It's made of ultralight synthetics. Light as a feather while still being tough as steel." She turns to look at me. "Are you feeling ok? You're being really quiet and monotone." "I'm just happy to not be doing this alone anymore." "Damn right you're not doing it alone anymore." We both turn to find the source of the voice and see my father leaning against the Abrams tank. "DAD! What are you doing down here?!" "Well, you and Angela ran off without much word, so me and your mother decided to follow you." "MOM IS DOWN HERE!?" My mother pops out from behind the tank. "Hi Richie!" I rub my temples and sigh before looking at my parents again. "So tell me again why you decided to follow me?" My mother speaks up this time. "Well, you never really told us what you did. I was always just, 'A job at Interpol.' So when you said you had recruited Angela and that you were back in service, we got curious. So we followed you two to the room in the shower, then down here to this bunker." "So we both decided to make this a family team, thing of sorts." "You mean that you want to work with me? Like my partners?" "Yes." "Do you want to know what I do?" "Yes." "Fine. I am a high profile bounty hunter for Interpol. I track down major drug bosses, traffickers, smugglers, serial killers, gangs, the list goes on. Most of my work involves tracking the dark web, but from time to time I have to go out on field missions." "So you kill people for a living?" "Yes. I kill people. Do you remember Salgado Hildame, the drug lord? I was the guy that killed him, not the ammunitions discharge that the news reported on. That was a cover story." My parents exchange a concerned look, then look back at me and say in unison, "Where do we sign up?" I smack my forehead. "That was supposed to scare you into not wanting to do this!" My father speaks up first. "Scare us? More like enthused us son." I sigh again and look at Angela, who shrugs her shoulders. "Go upstairs and into my study. There is a switch under the desk. Flip it and use the computer to call Scott Moore. He'll fill you in." They nod and leave the bunker and head back upstairs. I turn back to Angela. "I swear they drive me crazy. At least they haven't moved in." "Oh don't be so glum honey. I wish my parents had wanted to be this involved. Instead they tried to sell me as a slave." "I know, I killed the buyer, which thanks again by the way. That got me a good sum of money." She punches me on the shoulder. "Anytime, you bastard." We smile at each other and hug.