Becoming an Agent

"Kid, my name is Michael Hurst and I'm a branch leader of the International Secret Corps under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. We are secret agents who are tasked with carrying out operations against people or organizations that threaten peace around the globe. My branch focuses mainly on the areas surrounding the Pacific Ocean. With all that being said, I'll give you two options. Will you join our group and keep quiet about all you heard, or don't you want me to silence you right here and now with your death?

***

Once I heard that my mind went blank. The obvious choice was to join them, but I'm useless. After a while of seeing how useless I am they would probably silence me then or something. My mom started to treat me worse when she saw how useless I was, so who's to say it wouldn't be the same here.

On the other hand I finally have the chance to change my life around if I were to join them. Maybe I would become strong like the people here, but then again I'm useless.

Maybe I should take the other choice and just take the easy way out of things. I wouldn't have to worry anymore about the future or my family. I would finally be free from the restrictions of this world.

But at the end of the day, I don't want to die, especially in such a pathetic way. I want to become someone I could finally be proud of; so I will.

"Sir, before I make a choice, can I ask something of you?

"Haa, you're in no position to demand anything, but I'm listening.

"If I join you, would I be trained how to fight? I haven't even learned basic self-defense."

"Obviously, I don't intend on taking any losses. And even if you do end up being of no use to me, I'll just have you pay me back in another way."

"Then if you train me, can you beat the shit out of me if I slack off?"

"What?! I mean, what are you trying to achieve with that?"

"I want to achieve something out of my life. Unfortunately, after all my failures I lost the motivation to give it my all. I want to change, but I just can't. I can't follow through with anything, so I want you to force me to go through training, even if I don't want to."

I couldn't really believe I told this man the truth. He was just about to kill a little while ago, and now I'm venting on him. But the thing is, I really want to change, and he may just be the person who gives me a push.

"Fine, I will beat the living shit out of you if you slack off. I will even allow the people to train you to do the same. So will you join now after confirming that your needs are fulfilled."

"Yes, sir!"

I finally felt genuinely confident after so long. I just know that if I'm under the supervision of such a powerful man I can achieve something.

"Then from now on, Nathaniel Perez, you will be a member of the International Secret Corps until I feel like you can keep a secret. You will be under the responsibility of the Sonobe twins, Katsumi and Takeo. They will be the ones to train you and make sure you get around. Any of your failures will be pinned on them as Katsumi is mainly responsible for you."

"What?!" The boy with all black clothes, Katsumi, was taken by surprise. But he did say earlier he was responsible for me, so I guess he was put to follow through with that remark. Katsumi seems to have realized that as well as he doesn't fight against Michael's decision.

"Fine. I will take responsibility for him."

"Good, now that we dealt with that problem, let's get back to the orientation. Secretary Blake, go clean your mess up and send some security to guard the premises for anymore… intruders."

I know that last remark was for me, but is it really my fault? A lot of today's events feel oddly suspicious. For such a secretive organization, why have there been a lot of problems in one day? I'm probably just overthinking things, but I can't help it."

Michael's secretary gets up and bows her head down at him. She starts walking away and seems to be immediately getting to work. Michael goes back to the stage and picks up the microphone.

"Everyone get back to your positions!"

Everyone immediately went back to where they were standing before all the commotion started. I didn't know what to do, and while I was lost in thought, Katsumi came up to me. Now that I got closer to him, I noticed he had dark blue hair and eyes, which oddly seemed natural.

"Perez, right?"

"I guess, just call me Nathaniel though."

Katsumi nods his head at my response.

"Okay then, Nathaniel, come with me. Make sure not to bump into anyone. Everyone here is probably going to try and cause problems with you. They can't get to me or my brother, but you're different."

"Huh?"

"I'll tell you later, just follow me."

Katsumi seemed to know how things worked around here so I just decided to listen to him and not pry any further.

***

Michael went on to continue his speech from earlier,

"We already wasted so much time, so I'll cut this short. First, as you all should know, White Tower Executive Roy Evans was killed last month on the 21st of September. We believe it was the work of the White Tiger."

A lot of people in the crowd, including myself, were all confused. I didn't know who or what this White Tiger was. But everyone else seemed to be confused for a different reason than me.

"What!?"

"There's no way!"

"Yeah!"

"He doesn't even bother getting involved with others!"

Everyone in the crowd was voicing complaints and things started getting hectic until Michael intervened.

"Silence! This is only a suspicion, but it's very likely to be true. There have been lots of legendary figures dying in the past few months. None were as notable as Roy, but they were all extremely strong in their own right. Not many people were capable of killing them, but yet they were all killed with ease. The only one able to achieve such a feat is the White Tiger. But anyways, that's why you were all scouted. You are here to make sure no major problems arise out of these incidents. And if you run away now, I'll kill you myself. So all of you here have to put your heart into this. Will all that being said I'm out."

Michael just left the microphone there and left without saying another word. Everyone in the crowd seemed to be worried, but didn't voice any complaints.

"You remember his actions from earlier, it was all for this."

"Huh?"

Katsumi had come up to me and once again, he seemed to know what was going on.

"He did a display of his strength to show everyone that this whole place is under his control. The whole thing was calculated."

"So my appearance here was calculated?"

"No, he just made sure that his secretary would mess something up to make his display as realistic as possible."

Oh, I really don't get what's going on here, but one thing is sure though, Katsumi is definitely one of the most talented people here. I'm honestly glad I was put under his watch, but I'm honestly getting a bad feeling of this whole place. I feel like something really bad is going to take place here, but I guess there's no point in worrying too much.

"Okay, so what are you really trying to say?

"Be careful of Michael. If anything, don't let your curiosity get you anywhere close to him. He seems to be up to something, and it's definitely something we shouldn't be involved in, so stay alert and keep your distance."

"Alright."

I'm honestly curious, but if Katsumi is worried then I shouldn't go snooping around and letting my curiosity get the better of me; it typically ends up causing trouble.

***

One of the employees took me, Katsumi, Takeo, and two other boys around our age, and showed us around the place.

One of the boys, Lloyd, had shiny blonde hair and was wearing a fancy suit. The other boy, Bane, had dirty blonde hair and was just wearing a jacket with some jeans.

We're currently walking into the main building. Takeo, still in pain from earlier, is complaining to Katsumi who is just ignoring him.

The employee opens the door and right when we're about to enter I notice Michael walking with a young girl about my age. He notices us and starts heading our way.

The girl looks at us, and then focuses her sight on me. I notice she has shiny brown hair styled in a pigtail fashion, hazel eyes, and a pretty face.

We stare at each other for a bit and I feel my heart beating and breathing getting more erratic. We continued to stare at each other until suddenly Michael started making some coughing sounds. I felt embarrassed for some reason and turned away and looked at Michael.

"Hi, sir!"

"Quiet down, I'm right in front of you."

"Yes, sir."

"Anyways, this girl here is my daughter Annabelle, and she's the same age as you and Lloyd."

"Oh, wait, huh?"

I started freaking out. Like how did he already know my name? I barely met the guy like 2 hours ago.

"I already looked into you earlier. Nathaniel Perez, 13 years old, born on December 27 in the year 2006. Your family lives in 216–"

"Okay, okay, I get it! You don't need to say every little thing about me."

Michael just chuckled and played it off. His behavior was throwing me off a bit, but I assume it's the fact that Anabelle is here. Talking about Anabelle, I still feel her gaze on me. It's making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Michael turned to the twins who have been quiet since the moment we entered.

"Ahem, Katsumi and Takeo, I need you two to figure out what fighting style is best suited for Nathaniel so I can get him some gear. I need that done within a week, got that?"

Takeo turned his head down, probably still mad from earlier. Katsumi on the other hand took charge.

"Yes, sir, we'll get that done immediately."

"Good, then I'll be on my way."

Michael then started heading out. Anabelle on the other hand was staring at me.

I don't know why, but I felt some sort of connection with her, and I'm pretty sure she felt it too with the way she was looking at me.

Is this love at first sight?

***