- Hey? Hello can you hear me, over? - Jackson said in a concerned voice. - Come on, Ash. Claire?

Ashley is the first to wake up. She opens her eyes and it takes her a couple of seconds and a bit of blinking to understand what she is seeing.

She’s hanging upside down, chained to the ceiling. Next to her is Claire, who seems to still not be awake. Directly below her is a huge pool of water.

Shaking off the confusion answers the communicator.

- Control? I’m... I’m here. God, my head hurts.

- Oh thank god. It’s great to see you’re not, you know... Dead. Look, the data Agent-57c downloaded shows that there is a giant laser in the facility, and it’s being powered right at this very moment!

- Yeah he told us about that. Before he brought us to the pit of big sharks or... something.

- But I also know what you can do to stop it. Just type in the password “iheartsharks4242”. All lowercase, no spaces.

- That simple?

- Yes. The room is located in-

Just before Jackson can finish his sentence the signal cuts off. Claire wakes up and a door at the other end of the room opens. Abraham Abraham walks in with two more guards.

- Why hello. How are you HANGING in there? Ha!

No one in the room laughs or shows any reaction to the joke. Abraham swiftly moves on to another subject.

- So uh... - He clears his throat - Anyway. You’re now in the room of the shark aquarium. I hope-

- Wasn’t this the pit of deadly death sharks or whatever? - Claire interrupts him.

- Just please let go of the name thing, I don’t wanna think about it right now. The thing is, you now have nowhere to go, and no tools to use to escape! I have taken everything you had on you and just activated a jamming field, just in case we missed anything. The laser will activate and I will finally have won! Now. For the sharks.

He presses a button, but nothing seems to happen.

- Oh yeah, the jamming thing. I’m gonna have to leave the room. You two better die. Alright, bye!

Abraham and his two guards leave the room. Soon after, huge metal doors in the water open, letting out multiple sharks into the water.

- Those are pretty normal sharks. - Says Claire.

- Pit of deadly murder sharks? More like... More like “Pit of just straight up sharks”, right? Nah, I’ve got nothing. Sorry. Just hang on, I can think of something...

The chains start to lower into the water.

- We should probably get out of this first, honey.

Ashley blushes as Claire says this. She lets out a quick and surprised gasp by accident. It’s almost adorable enough to make Claire forget about their impending doom. Keyword: Almost.

- I still have my laser ring! They didn’t notice. Hang on.

- Be careful.

Ashley starts to swing from side to side. The sharks are getting agitated, and some jump from the water to try and get her. When she finally swings far enough, she activates the laser in her ring and cuts her chains, launching her to safety.

She hits the floor and rolls away from the shark pit. Quickly looking around, she finds a small room with a window, it seems to have many levers and buttons.

The door is locked and there doesn’t seem to be an easy entry point. Claire is getting closer and closer to the water, so Ashley swiftly dives through the window.

- Ow, ouch, ow.

- Are you alright? - The other agent shouts

- Sure! - She screams back - Alright, now I need to know what here does what.

She pulls a lever. The chain starts to descend faster. She presses a button. More sharks are released to the water. She turns a dial. Blades come out of the floor and start spinning.

- Uhh, having trouble there?

- Don’t worry, I’ll figure this out!

She starts pressing any button she finds, many things happen, most of them bad. Eventually one of those buttons start to close the pit. The agent sits down against the control panel and lets out a huge sigh of relief.

- Alright, now to cut you out of there.

That’s exactly what she does. After cutting her out she looks worried.

- Claire, are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you-

She gets interrupted by a kiss. Claire’s hands grab her face and pull her close. Both of them close their eyes and for a few seconds forget about everything else.

- Hey now, don’t say our names here like that, Agent-7a. - She smiles - Come on, let’s get outta here.

Ashley is blushing, she grabs the other agent’s hands and runs off with her. She then forces open the door with a crowbar, since it is locked.

Exiting the room, they hear a beep from their communicators. It is working again. Claire calls control.

- This is Agent-57c to control, do you copy?

Jackson is frantically going from side to side in his control room. As soon as he hears the call he rushes to the communicator and responds.

- Did you get out of the trap? Over.

- Yes. Where do we go now? Over.

- Alright, take a left, then two rights, go up the stairs, in the elevator to the 15th floor and then keep heading forwards. That should be the laser control room, over.

- Noted. Over and out.

They start running, breaking cameras along the way and following Jackson’s directions. Soon they come to a corridor and are surround on each side by two guards.

- Alright, agent. - Claire says - You take one down, I’ll take the other.

The guards come running, but the agents are prepared. Ashley blocks his nightstick and punches the man in the stomach. She then moves behind him in one swift motion and hits him on the back of his head, knocking him out.

Claire dodges the other guard’s swings, kicking him on chest to gain some distance. He comes running back with a taser, but the agent grabs and disarms him, using his own taser to send him to the ground.

As soon as they are done, the agents continue running together, finally coming across the elevator. They select the 15th floor. Considering that they are now deep underground, it’s gonna take a while.

- That was cool. - Claire smiles and looks at Ashley.

- Yeah. It’s fun fighting with you. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

- Oh no, I’m not talking about that.

- Oh? Oh... Yeah, that was great. - Ashley’s heart starts beating faster. - Maybe we should do that more? After we get out of here, of course.

- Of course.

They stand in silence for a moment. Each of them thinking of what to do or say. Ashley is too flustered to act, and Claire is thinking of how to smoothly move in for yet another kiss. Before she does, however, Jackson calls them again.

- Agent-7a, progress report. Please. Over.

- Oh, hi control. We’re not there yet, we’re in the elevator now, over.

- Ah good. Alright you two, this is it. Try to focus and please, don’t mess it up. Over and out.

Finally, the elevator arrives on the 15th floor. It opens up to a corridor full of doors. Right at the end is one with the sign “Not An Important Room”. According to Jackson’s instructions that should be it.

As soon as they get close to the door, Abraham opens it from the other side. He stares at the agents and slowly starts going back in the room.

- Hi, ladies. I’m just gonna... Go.

Claire kicks the door in the man’s face and runs into the room.

- It’s over, Abraham. We’re here to stop that laser.

The room is much bigger than anything else they’ve seen in that building. There are computers everywhere, and a huge screen in the middle showing the schematics of the laser. It is powering up, and quick.

The computers are operated by scientists. There are 10 of them in the same room, and they all turn around to see what is happening at the entrance.

- Well, good luck with that! Every single person in this room is a trained assassin! Also a nuclear physicist, but I don’t think that matters right now.

Abraham runs off to a staircase, grabbing something in the way. All the different scientists in the room pull out swords and staffs from below their computers.

- Agent-7a, you go after Abraham. I’ll keep these clowns busy.

- Noted. Stay safe, please.

- No.

Each of them run off in different directions. Claire goes to the middle of the room and starts fighting off all the assassin-physicists.

She dodges the sword attacks and blocks the staff wielding scientists. They don’t have the space to attack all at once, so she is only fighting 4 of them at a time.

They start going down one by one. The agent tries to get them to attack the computers by accident, breaking important equipment left, right and center. While walking through the room she has to watch out for steps and objects on the floor. Some of them trip and fall on those, and when they do Claire takes advantage of that and attacks them as soon as possible.

Now there are 6 left in the room. They are keeping their distance and trying to be tactical. She attempts to get one by surprise, but he blocks her and she gets surrounded.

She needs to think fast. Before any of them get any closer, she picks up a sword from the ground and throws it at one of the surrounding attackers. He dodges it but the agent is quicker, and while he is occupied she knocks him out too.

With 5 left she finds it easier to take them down one by one again. Soon only one is standing, and both wait for the other to make the first move.

- You don’t understand what you’re up against. - The remaining sword yielding nuclear physicist says. - I’ve been solving quadratic equations the entire time we’ve been fighting.

- Is that why you suck so much?

- Probably, yes. Still. Now I’m completely focused on taking you down. Check this out.

He runs to a computer and jumps from it, doing a back flip mid air and landing flat on his face. He does not get up.

Claire makes sure he is still breathing and runs after the other agent.

- You’re not gonna get away with this, Abraham! - Ashley shouts, running right behind him.

- I hope I do! It’ll be really profitable!

They keep running up the stairs until they reach the top of the building. The laser is there, huge and pointing up at the opening roof. The light nearly blinds both the agent and the business man. Energy flows on the laser shooter.

- In just a minute or two this laser is going to fire as soon as I press this button! Jupiter will be destroyed and I will be a rich man!

Ashley catches up and tackles him, fighting for the button. He kicks her off him and prepares for a fight. As the agent gets up he punches her in the stomach, but she counter attacks with a kick to his knee. He falls down and crawls away before getting up and approaching the ledge.

The agent doesn’t care about how dangerous it is, she needs to get the button. They again get into a fight, but this time any punch could send them over the edge.

- Just like old times. Right, agent?

- I guess so. - She punches Abraham in the ear, making him stumble and almost fall. - You know, you’re the only guy that ever fights me one on one. I respect that.

- Oh wow, that hurt. But hey, thanks, I try.

The laser starts to light up and make noises. Abraham gets slightly distracted, and Ashley uses the opportunity to grab the button and break it.

- Aw man. That stings. Good one though.

- Surrender now, Abraham.

- No.

Right at this moment Claire comes up the stairs.

- Oh by the way - Abraham continues - Since I can’t activate it, the laser is going to blow up. Too much energy. Bye!

He jumps off the building and activates a parachute. A helicopter seems to show up out of nowhere to pick him up mid air. There’s no way they can get him now, but the laser is deactivated for good.

- Ash! You’re alright.

- He’s getting away but at least Jupiter is gonna stay intact. We need to get out of here already.

- No kidding. Does your suit have wing suit mode?

- No, this is an earlier model.

- What? We don’t have the time to climb down this entire building!

The base of the laser starts to shake and become red. It’s not gonna take too long for it to blow up now.

- You’re gonna have to trust me, Claire. Go. I’ll meet you at the main entrance.

- Ashley, I-

- Please.

Ashley grabs Claire’s hands and moves in for a kiss. They again close their eyes and for a few seconds forget about everything else. The noise of the burning machines, the strong wind and the beeping of electronics all go away for just a few moments.

They come back to reality and Claire takes a few steps torward the ledge, preparing her wing suit.

- I’ll see you there then. - she says - I love you.

She jumps while Ashley runs back to the control room. Looking around, she finds the most important looking computer and goes to it. It seems to have been partially destroyed by a sword. It’s still working, but the screen is flickering on and off.

The room suddenly turns red. Alarms start to sound and a robotic voice starts talking in the intercom.

- Laser Reactor Meltdown in T - 15 seconds.

- Come on, come on. Where do I input the password?

Ashley looks all through the computer looking for a place to input the password that Jackson gave her. It’s her only chance.

- Laser Reactor Meltdown in T - 10 seconds.

She finds a program called “BigLaserControl.Exe”. It requires a password. She inputs it, but the screen turns off.

- Laser Reactor Meltdown in T - 5 seconds.

Frantically clicking around without seeing anything, she looks for the button that deactivates it. When only two seconds are left, she hears a beep. The alarm and voice stop, and the room falls silent. She grabs her communicator.

- I did it! Ha! I actually did it Cl... Agent-57c! I’m going down the elevator, make sure to have a vehicle ready for me!

- Yes! Alright, I’m taking a car. Come quick!

As soon as Ashley gets to the bottom floor, she runs to the entrance of the building. Guards start running after her, but she gets to the car outside first.

- Drive! Back to HQ!

Claire accelerates and leaves all the guards behind.

- This is Agent-7a to control. Do you copy, over?

- Copy.

- We did it, control. We’re going back home. The laser is stopped but Abraham got away.

- That is fine, Agent-7a. The information we got from the server download is good enough. You did a great job. Are you injured?

- Just some cuts and bruises from fighting, we’re okay.

- Good. Thank god you’re both fine. Control out.

The setting sun makes for a beautiful sky as both of them drive off into the distance. Ashley can’t help but stare at Claire now that all has calmed down. She looks stunning.

- This was the best date of my life. - She says, adjusting herself in her seat.

- Want to do it again? We can grab a couple of missions together.

- Yes. I would love that.

- It will be dangerous. Really dangerous.

- I wouldn’t have it any other way... Agent.

- Very well. Control, do you copy?

- Copy. - Jackson replies.

- You can give us a mission for tomorrow, we’ll be available.

Jackson looks at the calendar, confused.

- I thought you were going to take a break tomorrow. You know, because of valentine’s day?

- Yeah. I found a better way to spend it.

- Alright, sure. If you insist. Control out.

Claire slows down the car and looks at Ashley.

- Ash?

- Yeah?

She kisses Ash again. This time, she pays at least a little bit of attention to the road ahead.

The End