2 A whole new world

The next minute he was running down the corridor while sending a text message to his car;

"Meet me behind the school "

This was the other side of Arthur, a life that has kept him ever watching his back. Ever since his parents died, he had been discovering that they weren't who he thought they were, he was a smart kid and could easily put together the pieces of the puzzle of his parent's behavior. Ever since they had died and had read the long letter that had been left for him, his life had never been the same.

He ran as fast as he could towards the deserted lane at the school behind the school block to find the black Ford Shelby GT350 parked, its engine running. It looked like an ordinary car, but it wasn't. In fact, it was a secret project that his parents had been working on. It was supposed to be the ultimate spy car but now it was Arthur's favorite part time activity. Arthur entered the car on the passenger side and shut it. The windows were tinted black, with a two way glass that you could see nothing from inside but anyone inside could see you clearly. Its body was made from plasma reinforced steel, hence it could easily change its shape to a different model. So far Arthur had only used a Mustang and a BMW body. It had Omni sensors running throughout its body with microfibers. The Omni sensors collected information on the surrounding and enabled the computer in the car to pick up a 3D visualization of the surrounding. This technological advancement gave the auto drive computer system of the car up to a one hundred percent self-driving accuracy. They also connected with any satellite in the area which helped in mapping out the area and picking out radio transmissions in the area. The microfibers were out of this league as they processed terabytes of information and data in seconds. He could easily get any information he wanted, and the best part was, from any government agency in the world.

The car was also armed with the latest tech in weaponry. Two fifty caliber machine guns, one on the bonnet, the other on the sun roof, which were carefully crafted to look like superchargers. A nitro pack which enabled the car to make short jumps with the assistance of pressure pads below the car. A camouflage application enabled the Omni sensors pick up the color of the surrounding, feed it to the plasma body and it would blend to the environment causing it to 'disappear". Two rocket launcher ports at the front bumper concealed by the number plate tag, were armed with RPGs. Tires were made of bullet proof rubber reinforced with Kevlar rubber and steel pads that allowed it to run long after the tires had worn out and with an auto puncture repair system and retracting spikes. On the rims were flash bangs and frag grenades.

The computer picked up Arthur's signal and opened the door just enough to allow Arthur to jump in and automatically slid shut. The commline went active. "Keyboard," said Arthur

The dashboard pulled back revealing a keyboard, which once he started typing, the windscreen glowed as a hollogramatic screen appeared. It also revealed a set of buttons that Arthur had never tried out. Every time he wanted to try it out the computer would reject. He quickly hacked into the NSA database and started typing a name.

Heis froze as the results came up on the screen a second later. His eyes bulged out as his heartbeat started going fast. He could not believe what he was seeing. "Maybe my eyes are lying, no, the computer is lying," he thought.

"Arthur, we have a stranger approaching us." The compline went active.

"Sorry Janey. How've you been?"

"It was a boring, anyway, John is approaching and fast, seventy five yards and closing,"

"We should just knock him out. Boy he drives me nuts. Just get us out of here. Loose him."

"With pleasure,"

John watched in dismay as the Ford Shelby spin out of the car lot behind the school. "I'd never figured out the geek to have such a ride. Who picked him up…What the hell," he consoled himself as he jumped to his car and drove off.

Alicia sat in her Porsche, suddenly remembering the crumpled piece of paper she had stuffed in her bag. She turned towards the passenger seat and started ruffling through her books. Then she saw it, carefully picked it up and looked at it, her heart beat suddenly increase. Just thinking of what it contained made her hands start to sweat. Ever since she came to stay with her uncle and aunt, she had found out from the day he saw Arthur that she somehow had a crush on him. She had seen been of late checking him out at any opportunity she could get. This behavior had now started to spook her.

When she unfolded the paper she found an address written and time.

"224 E pride way"

4; 40

The address seemed familiar but she couldn't remember where it was. She looked at the clock. She had 30 minutes left. She pulled the car out of the parking lot and activated the sat-navigator.

She didn't realize the black SUV parked on the opposite end of the school block pull behind her. The windows of the powerful machine were heavily tinted. Immediately it stopped, five men dressed in Armani Italian suits jumped out. The evening summer breeze blew past their coats forcing them to slightly push up revealing Mpk-7 submachine guns and a .45 pistol on their waists.

From the manner in which they fanned out clearly showed that this guys were professionals. The school playground which was almost empty save for the golden autumn leaves dancing in the wind. The team leader motioned to the first guy to open the school doors as they slowly disappeared into the school building.

Mrs. Hawk had rushed into the window when she heard Arthur's Mustang screech out of the school parking. She was about to shout at him to wait for her, but shut up as soon as she noticed the black SUV pull into the school parking lot. She observed quietly concealing herself just a bit shy of the curtains. Five men- she had counted quietly. "So, they've sent a kill team for me," she said amid a chuckle. "But first things first." With that she opened the window which opened to a corner between two walls. With great effort she hoisted herself out of the window and put a foot and a hand on each side of the window and slid down quietly. She checked the area before she stealthily made her way to her Toyota Corolla and sped out of the premises.

Peter, the team leader cautiously opened the door to Mrs. Hawk's classroom watching out for any booby traps. He had never lost a team member and he wasn't about to lose one to RED-Rogue and Extremely Dangerous- high school teacher. He wondered why they had to kill her and not just take her alive. A snatch and grab could have been easier and more rewarding.

Peter had had a rough childhood, bouncing from orphanage to orphanage due to his attitude. When he was eighteen he enlisted and made it as a Marine at the top of his class. At 22 he was invited for black ops and seal training which he effortlessly made through them. At 27 his team had made the most successful number of missions and he had quickly risen up the ranks to a Major. He was honorably discharged and went back to university for a degree in mechanical engineering. It was then the CIA approached him with a lucrative job offer. Now he was part of a special CIA –NSA –FBI Taskforce. The Taskforce was off the records, his first experience as a black ops taskforce.

He pushed the door open and braced himself for the worst. He commanded his unit to follow him. With his silenced colt.45 he entered the classroom. Then he saw the curtains flustering on the window. Then he quickly registered the mistake he had made today in order not to lose a team member. It had cost him their target.

"Shit!" he exclaimed slapping his firearm on the table, "Control, do you read me, over" he spoke over his earpiece.

"Go ahead Red Team, mission status report, over" came the reply from the command center of the joint Taskforce.

"We just missed her. She saw us coming. But if you could get us satellite feed we could get on her trail within minutes, over"

"No. That's a negative. I repeat that's a negative. Do you copy?"

"Copy that command"

"Get your team here ASAP for debriefing"

"Roger that command. Red Team out" Peter replied and motioned for them to leave.

Just as they had arrived, the men filed into their SUV after checking the surrounding and drove off.

The black Mustang slid noiselessly into the cemetery parking lot. Arthur took a quick infra-red scan of the cemetery lot. There was no one. Just the way he preferred it. He got out of the car and walked towards two tombstones at the farthest corner of the cemetery. He bowed his head low and sat down on the short grass. He placed his hand and caressed the writings and epitaphs engraved on the tombstones. Tears slowly welled up in his eyes as he thought of the day he went to identify his parents' bodies.

"I swear ill find out who did this and I will have my revenge. It will be slow and painful just as you had endured it," he whispered softly to himself amid tears.

He thought why should a child endure such pain. He remembered the details as clearly and meticulously as possible. He now considered his photographic memory a curse. The coroner had done his best to make the cuts and bruises as concealed as possible but Arthur had had a knack for details. From the analysis he had compiled it was clear that his parents had been tortured. What he detested most was that Agent who approached him to ask where his parents might have kept some of their work in the name of National Security.

He was jolted back to reality when he heard footsteps approaching his position. He inwardly cursed his arrogance of turning off his commline to Janey whenever he came here. Slowly, he took deep breaths, he turned just in time to see Mrs. Hawk walk up to him. His muscles stiffened as he braced himself to make a surprise foot trip on her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Mrs. Hawk's voice stopped him in his tracks, ´You are a fiery one. Your dad didn't tell me that you were this smart. Perhaps I underestimated you too much. Especially when you ran away from such fights..."

"You knew my dad? Arthur asked, surprised by the new revelation.

"In more ways than you can imagine. But I still don't know why he chose her over me. I was the one supposed to choose who I dump, not the other way araaauuund…. I've said too much," suddenly surprised at her own outburst.

"Oh my God!! That's disgusting… urgh! My teacher slept with my dad! I don't think I can or will ever get used to that" replied Arthur with disgust written all over his face, "how will I sleep? Did my mom know about it?"

"Of course she knew, we even had threesomes a couple of times Arthur! What do you think?" She replied sarcastically her face full of anger. "Your dad was my assignment, but in my job things don't always turn out as you always expect them to, I have to give him credit for that. I thought that I was the one who had him under my thumb… imagine my surprise when I found out he knew everything; that I was just some other agent…."

At this point Mrs. Hawk sat down on the grass, which she found it surprisingly damp considering the season. The memories were turning out to be too much. The tears were getting difficult to hold them back. Finally she broke down and started sobbing softly. Arthur moved next to her and put his hand around her neck and patted her back.

"It's okay, I miss him too, but talking about it helps too. Imagine I've never had anyone to talk to since they were buried; not even the school administration knows that I've been living alone. It's okay now that you can also talk to me about it. I'll understand, I'm practically an adult now," Arthur whispered as he gently comforted Mrs. Hawk.

Mrs. Hawk sniffled a bit, turned and looked at Arthur and slowly traced her palm across Arthur's face; running her fingers through his hair, following the curves of his cheekbones down to his chin. She then lifted her head up and looked into his eyes. Arthur stunned at the sudden display of affection remained quiet and transfixed. He wanted to stop her but the way she looked at him with her dilated and tear glistened emerald eyes stopped him. He had never seen his teacher like this not even after classes.

Then just as she had displayed affection she pulled back and her eyes turned stone cold. Arthur could not believe that she was the woman who was melting in grief just a few seconds ago. "That was inappropriate," she said, "As I was explaining, your dad was my first and only love. I would have quit that job for him but he refused, he only advised me to stay in and watch over his family if I really loved him, and that's how I worked for the CIA."

"I won't pretend that I'm surprised, that much I know. Why then did you fake your death and assume this fake identity as my teacher. Of all the professions you chose a teacher. You could have been anyone else. I know you wanted to be close to my dad but why then teach at my school?" asked Arthur.

"Hm," Mrs. Hawk heaved loudly and let out a smile, "Just like your parents, you all want to understand