*****Chapter 5: Bad Reunion***** Jessie and James pulled into the garage beside the agency. James got out of his car first and helped the girl out of the Ferrari. The two led her to the briefing room where M was. They both did a retina scan and finger print identification to gain access to the room. The door clicked and opened up. They continued to a small room with a black glass table, ten chairs and that was completely surrounded with glass. They led her to M. "Oh my God. Misty Waterman you are beautiful just like your mo...uh hem." M stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Excellent work. Was she any trouble?" "No sir." said James as M sighed/ "Crap." M mumbled very quietly. He walked over to the intercom on the table and pushed the button. "Ms. Stratigias, can you please send the others in?" "Yes, sir, Richard." "Richard! Your name is Richard?" said James "Yes, Mr. Spalding. I have my own name. Besides, you shouldn't call me M anyway. When the title M is used in 007 films it is referring to the position of 'Minister'. Ms. Waterman, would you like to sit down?" Richard asked as he pointed to the chairs around the table. "Thanks. Oh, listen, can you unlock these chains around my chest? I would like to fix my hair." "No way twerp." said Jesse smiling. "Wow still a bitch." Misty said quietly "What was that?" asked Jesse "Nothing. Nothing at all, now would you please excuse me, trying to do my hair here." "Good luck." said Jesse Misty brought her hands up to fix her hair. She hit herself in the forehead with the chains connecting her arms. "Ow. Damn!" "Oh for the love of God." Richard said. "Jesse give me the key." "Excuse me sir, that girl right there is one of the most wanted terrorists in the world." "Just give me the key." Jessie sighed and handed him the key. "Hey, twerp!" Jesse pulled over her two sides of her jacket to reveal two holstered pistols. Misty just looked down, pretending not to care. She took the opportunity to fix her hair while she still had off her chains around her chest. She ran her fingers back through her hair several times, letting her hair hang down a few inches below her shoulders. She reached behind her head and grabbed some of her most outside hair. She pulled that into a ponytail and held it up while she pulled the rest of her hair down. She let the ponytail fall over the free falling hair, and then finished her make over by throwing her hair back with a head twitch, followed by slouching in the chair and crossing her arms. "So...this is how the U.S. government gives its briefing?" Misty asked sarcastically "No, actually we are waiting for the other agents." said Richard "Peachy." Misty said looking around. "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if...Oh my God! What is she doing here? She's a terrorist." "Yes, Ms. Ross, I know." said Richard calmly. "You can't have her in here. She'll probably blow up the building." "With what? I just got out of prison." "Well I can tell. You look hideous. So dirty and...ew!" "Yeah, well you know what, those spider veins on your legs make you look hideous too. Infact I would say they make you look forty-six years old." "I'm only twenty seven." "Oo, you shouldn't have said that. You see you just told me that you look nineteen years older." "Uh." Ms. Ross stormed out of the briefing room. "Bye Ms. Ross." said Misty waving "Sorry about Karen, Misty. You see she gets very jealous when a new girl shows up at the agency. Especially one as beautiful as you." said Richard. "Thank you." Misty said confused "She gets very jealous thinking that all the girls are trying to get As..." "Sorry we're late Richard...I mean sir." said one of Richard's agents, who happened to look familiar. "Wise choice not calling me Richard, Mrs. Michaels "So where's this terrorist?" asked Tracey, who also looked very familiar to Misty. "She is right over there." Richard said pointing to Misty, who was sitting in her chair staring at the other two agents. Melody looked over at Misty and was speechless. He stared at her for several seconds, looking her over several times. Tracey walked over to Misty and began circling her, checking out her profile and her look from head to toe. He looked at her long orange hair and then looked into her eyes. Seeing only aqua marine colors he knew it was Misty. "Misty?" "Tracey?" "Misty!" Misty stood up quickly and hugged Tracey. "Oh my God, Tracey look at you. What are you doing here?" Misty asked "I work here. Wait...you're the terrorist?" "Yes, I am that terrorist." Tracey turned back to where the other four agents were standing. "Sir? She is the terrorist?" "Yes she is Michaels" "Huh...Ash is not going to like this. And she is not going to want to see Ash." Tracey said "Why wouldn't she be happy to see Ash?" asked Melody "Because, Ash was the only one of us who has done any extensive work with Matrix. He's also the only one of us who has ever gotten a shot or punch off of him. Matrix wants Ash dead." said Tracey The door to the Briefing Room opened again, but this time only one person came in. Misty pulled her head up and saw a young man, about the age of 22 or 23. The man was tall, well built and with short spiked hair. The man looked at Misty the same way she looked at him. "Oh, Mr. Ketchum, this is..." "MISTY!" A large smile came across her face. She jumped up and ran over the table and over to Ash. She jumped into his arms. "Looks like they still like each other." said Tracey "Yeah, like" said Jesse with a grin on her face. Ash pulled Misty away after hugging her and looked her up and down. He saw that she was now the same height as he was. Her hair was a few inches below her shoulders, she was in excellent shape and had the look on her that said, 'Don't mess with me, or I will kick your ass.' Misty had grown much more mature and looked the part very well. She was still wearing her prison outfit. Ash grabbed the cross pediment that Misty was wearing. He looked it over each side, while Misty watched Ash view the necklace. "So, you like the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, Mist?" asked Ash as he let the necklace fall back to her chest. "Oh yeah." she said giving him a grin. "Wow Mist, you look great. I guess being away from me gave you that extra beauty sleep." Ash said as he gave her his trademark grin. "What?" she asked irritated. "Oh, God, here we go." Tracey said as he covered his eyes and shook his head. "I said you look a lot better, probably because you got your extra beauty sleep." He said still grinning. "Looks like you got your beauty sleep to." She replied as she showed off her trademark grin. "Judging from your looks I'd say that you've had the perfect life." "What?!" her grin instantly vanished and showed only her anger. "You heard what I said Mist. You just want to hear my voice more." He said grinning even more. "You're right. I did hear what you said, but I wanted to hear it again because I wanted to hear if Ash Ketchum knew what he was saying!" she yelled out loud to answer his question "What are you so made about Misty?" "You! I'm mad at you! You're saying I had a perfect life after I left because of my looks. Well just to let you know, I have had a life so terrible that you couldn't imagine if I didn't tell you." "What happened?" Ash's grin disappeared "Two months after I left, my dad came back. He just got out of a mental institute, he thought he was a spy or secret agent, or at least that's what my sisters told me. Four months later, my dad was taking me for a ride in a new Mustang. We had to stop to get some gas and when we did, someone framed him, making him look like a drug lord. He had a gun; he pulled it out of his pocket and shot an officer. Right before they fired back, he looked to the roof of the gas station and then looked at me and said, "I'm sorry Misty, I failed you! Accept my mission and please forgive me for casting you with this burden." Then…they…shot him about two dozen times. They were so close that…the bullets went right through him and…into the car's hood. I saw my dad get gunned down by the people who were supposed to protect. Then when I ran to my dad, Matrix took me. He trained me to fight back. He trained me to be the exact person I thought I never would be. He made me who I hated most. He made me a terrorist!" she shouted as she cried. Melody walked up to her to console her. "You're the terrorist!?" Ash asked "Ash! Shut up!" Melody mouthed to Ash followed by a hit up side the head by Jesse. "And Ash. About me being beautiful. This is what I look like without make up." Misty rubbed her hand across her face and turned to show Ash. "Misty?" "This is what I look like Ash. I have scars all over my face. I have cuts everywhere., bruisers that never leave. Scars everywhere. And you thought I was beautiful. I used to be…seven years ago…before I Ieft you. I wish I never did, none of this would've happened." She said holding back more tears. Melody and Jesse took Misty to the bathroom to console her and help her with some more makeup. "I'm sorry about Ash Misty. He usually never does that sort of thing." Melody said as she gave Misty a bottle of eyeliner. "It's okay Melody, it wasn't your fault. I guess Ash had a right to know." "No he didn't. You shouldn't have told him if it hurts you this much to talk about it." Said Jesse wiping more of Misty's tears away. "I shouldn't have, it's just that I could never keep anything from Ash…well…except that I…" she cut off and looked at Melody and Jesse to see if they heard what she had just said. "What Misty?" Jesse asked "Nothing." "I know what you were going to say to us." Melody said as she put on some of the eyeliner under Misty's right eye. "What?" Misty asked "You were going to say, 'Except that I loved him." Melody said not even looking at Misty anymore. "How…did you know?" she asked Melody "Remember, when you and Ash, and Tracey were on Shamuti Island. When I was going to go into the ice-cold water to get Ash, you said you wanted to. Even though we didn't say it directly, I understood what you meant by it Misty. But don't worry, I haven't told Ash, and I'm not planning on it." "Thanks Melody." She said finally smiling "I won't tell either, twerp." "Jesse, how did you know?" "Well just because I was in the most idiotic organization didn't mean that I was idiotic. I knew you loved him, why else would you stick around with him. I wouldn't, and I still don't. It's really annoying when all of the girls try to go out with him." "You know Misty, you should o out with Ash, even though he was just a jerk to you. But he still cares about you, we all do." "Why would I go out with Ash?" "Because, last summer me, Tracey, Jesse, and James went to Ash's house to go through some pictures of when we still had Pokemon, you know…before the incident. We saw some pictures of just you and Ash, and I for one noticed how happy you two were together. And you looked really hot together. And Ash does have a thing for you, at least he did right before you left." Melody said smiling "What do mean?" "Ash had a picture of you in a blue bikini on a beach. You just had your hair done; it was in the banana curve. You were sleeping on top of a towel with some sunglasses on. While you were sleeping, Ash took a picture of you. When he showed it to Tracey and James…well…they got excited." She said as she shook her head. "Why did Ash keep it?" Misty asked Melody as she put eyeliner under her left eye. "He said he kept the picture because you were really hot in it. He also said you looked like Jean Grey from X-2." "Really?" she asked giggling "So are you ready to go? We still have to have our briefing. "Yeah, I'm ready." ________________________________________________________________ The 5 agents and 1 terrorist sat around the glass table in the briefing room. They discussed several of the questions that they were wondering about Matrix. Misty told them about all of his plans that she was aware of. "We still don't know what Matrix plans to do with the chip he stole. None of the investigators have any leads." said James "Well, we do." said Richard, "Ms. Waterman." Misty quickly turned to Richard who was now looking at her for her output. Ash also quickly turned towards Misty to see what she really did know. "What does Matrix plan to use the GT Precision Guidance Chip?" "Well, he plans to copy it and install them into his missiles. If he is successful in doing so, he will have the most accurate missiles in the world." "How would the missiles be more accurate?" asked Jesse "Each chip has its own small orbital satellite. The chip can bring in more of the connection and can strike within a mere two inches." "Ms. Waterman, who was the other terrorist that was assisting you on this mission?" asked Richard "I'm sorry, but we promised each other that we would never tell anyone of the other's name or and information." Ash looked at Misty with a look that said 'Yeah right.' "And why is that?" asked Melody "Because, we were just best friends and that is what we promised to each other." "Yeah right. You didn't have anyone else on your mission. Officers only reported seeing two people break in and leave. And if I remember right, Matrix went with you on that mission. Mr. Carrington, there was no other terrorist." "Ash, I was there. I was making vocal contact with her throughout the mission. Matrix was there too, but if I remember right, YOU weren't. Anyway, I think that you're jealous thinking that I now have a new BEST friend." "Yeah, I'm jealous of your best friend, who DUMPED you in a DUMPSTER!" Ash shouted back to her. "Ash, the way you yell at me makes me feel like you're trying to be dominant. What am I making you feel inferior because guys always need to feel like they're in charge and stronger and smarter. Men are stuck in this male box, not the one for letters but an actual male box. If any woman goes dares to go inside and does what anything to make the male inferior, the male gets all pissed off and starts yelling to sound tougher. Well I just have five words for you to remember and live by, 'I…can…kick…you…ass.' Always remember those words and live by them Ashy boy." "Oo, Ash was shut up by Misty. That was awesome Mist." Melody said as she reached over the table and gave Misty a high five. "I could take you any day Misty, and you know what, I don't care if you're a girl or not!" "I don't care if you used to be my best friend or not. You want me, come and get me. Come on, I'll even give you a free shot right across my face. Come on, you think you're a big man. Let's see what you got. Yeah, that's what I thought, you've got nothing." "Yeah, well…" "Shut up, Ash! Richard, please continue." Misty said "Thank…you. Now Misty was there anyone else?" "Yes, but I can't tell you her name." "Very well." "Excuse me sir, we're picking up a message." said a man in the briefing room "What does it say?" "It says, 'PERFECT DARK, MEET ME AT THE OLD CHURCH IN ONE HOUR. AS USUAL, MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWED.' " "Who is Perfect Dark?" asked Richard "I am." The six that surrounded the table looked at Misty. "I'm Perfect Dark. It's a nickname between the two of us. I'm supposed to go meet..." "You will do no such thing, Ms. Waterman," said Richard sternly "If I go we may be able to find out if Matrix is planning an attack!" "If you go you many be killed!" "She wouldn't do that to me! We promised each other we would rather die. I'm going! She needs me." "How do you intend to get there? You have no car." said Richard loudly "I'll take her!" All the agents at the table looked over to Melody, who was looking sternly at Richard, then looked over to Misty. Misty gave Melody a smile. "We'll stop on the way and get you some better clothes to." Melody said as she began standing up. Misty looked at Richard with a grin and then followed Melody. "This agency is falling apart. All of my agents are going awol." "All of you are going to. We need as much protection on around her as possible. She's our only lead."