Keith's eyes shot open, he sat up on his bed and placed his hand on the alarm a second after it came on switching it off, he wasn't exactly happy about the fact that he would wake up on the spot but he was starting to accept the fact, and it wasn't like he could just ignore the alarm, his ears would start tingling the moment it was about to go off and his body would immediately react as a reflex.
Keith got his phone and found a voicemail from the previous day that he hadn't noticed, it was from Gladice, it said, "Hey, Keith, I'm sorry, I tried my best to cover for you but the boss wouldn't budge, I have some friends and connections, maybe I can help get you another job, call back if you're interested," he decided to text her.
++++++
Keith: Hey Gladice, thank you for trying to cover for me.
Gladice: It's no problem, what are friends for.
Keith: But I can't accept the offer, something important came up that I need to devote all my time to.
Gladice: You're not trying to skip town on me, are you? (^_-)
Keith: No, not at all, I just need to take care of some things.
Gladice: Okay, But the offer still stands.
Keith: Thanks.
Gladice: Okay, see you around stranger.
Keith: Bye.
++++++
Keith sighed, finding a new job was the least of his worries right now, with all that was going on with the C.I.A, learning new powers and Cole, he couldn't fit a job into the mix like he had originally thought.
As Keith was preparing to leave, he walked to Cole's room to check if he was awake yet, but he was snoring away. Keith tried waking Cole up but he was still out cold.
"Time is running out kid, you gotta go," Damian said. Keith got a paper, wrote down something down, placed it on the drawer next to Cole's bed and headed out of the apartment, "Please don't let anything happen while I'm gone ," he said to himself as he walked out of the building.
******
Cole woke up to a sharp pain in his head and a nauseating feeling in his stomach, he rubbed his temples as he tried sitting up on his bed, but the sudden motion made his stomach act up, he quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet bowl.
"What happened," Cole said heading back to his room, as he sat down on the bed he noticed a paper on his drawer, when he picked it up it read,
"Hey, Cole, I know there is something bothering you don't just push us away, let us help, we are worried about you. I'm going out for a while, please don't leave, we need to talk when I get back."
Cole's head started clearing up, he started remembering the occurrences on the previous night, how he had been drinking to drown his emotions, how he had come home and how Keith had found him.... or at least he thought it was Keith, he had looked different but Cole thought that was just because he was drunk.
Just as he was thinking about what had happened he received a call from an anonymous number, "The package is ready for pick up, come to the docks with the money, and don't be followed,". After he heard the call everything came back to him and he looked back at the note Keith had left, "I'm sorry Keith, I'll explain everything later, but right now, I have to do this... for her," he said.
******
As Keith walked up to the C.I.A building he had come out of yesterday, Amanda was standing right outside and seemed to be waiting for someone, the moment she saw Keith she walked up to him and said," Good morning Keith, follow me " in a serious voice, walking in the direction of the door without giving him time to respond. He followed her as they entered the building and walked past the reception, through a hall and into a large room. The room was the size of a basket ball court but was separated through the center by a metallic wall, on the wall there was a glass pane viewing into the other half of the room and a metallic door to its side, in the half he had entered from was filled with dozens of screens and monitors all varying in size and all displaying various numbers and statistics, on the center wall there was a large panel placed right below the glass pane, the panel had many buttons and screens and a microphone.
As Keith looked around the room and the amount of equipment he expected there to be multiple people but in the room there were only two people in the room, the middle aged woman who he had met the previous day who was standing in the center of the room, and Daniel who was sitting in chair next to the panel, he had thought that there would be more people involved, as he was thinking about this, the middle aged woman spoke up, "Hello Keith, good morning, thank you for getting here on time," she said.
"We were worried that we would have to kidnap you again," Daniel said jokingly.
"Daniel," the woman said in an authoritative tone,"Now, I suppose it's time for a proper introduction, these are Amanda Jones and Daniel Williams, and I am Beverly Anderson, I'll be in charge of this whole operation,"
"What operation?" Keith asked.
"You said that Antitor is going to attack earth, so the C.I.A has created our small team to handle the situation," Beverly replied.
"Aren't we a bit.... few?" Keith asked.
'More agents will be included if and when necessary, but as per now we have decided to keep this operation as confidential as possible, " Beverly said. Keith wondered how good the three must have been if they were the only ones going to help.
" And we understand we may have caused some inconveniences with your employment, so we are offering to give you a monthly salary, " Daniel said.
" Really?" Keith asked, a little shocked by the development.
"Yeah, it's the least we could do after getting you fired," Daniel said.
"Then can I ask one thing," Keith asked.
Beverly looked at Amanda and Daniel then back to Keith and said, "Sure,"
"Since we are now working together, are those guys you stationed outside my apartment really necessary,"
"He noticed them, hmm" Keith heard Beverly say under her breath , "Very well, the men will be withdrawn,"
Amanda was about to object when Beverly signaled her to calm down.
"Now, if that's all, Daniel, you're up," Beverly said.
"Please step into the other half of the room," Daniel said pressing a button on the panel that opened the metallic door.