The next morning she awoke a little late. She grabbed a bagel from the breakfast room and stuffed it unceremoniously into her mouth, earning an eyebrow raise from Nate.

"Mmimph mmlate" she said through the bagel.

Nate started laughing. She rolled her eyes at him, grabbed a Coke out of the fridge, and headed toward Sterling's office. Fortunately, she was only a few minutes late, and managed to swallow the rest of the bagel before she walked into his office.

"Come over here." He stood and picked a box off the table. She walked around his desk. "Hold out your wrist," he said.

“My wrist? Does it matter which one?"

He examined her hands for a second, then said, "Left."

It was an odd request, but she held out her left hand. He opened the box, revealing a pretty bracelet watch. "This has a tracking device in it, as well as a communications link. In case you lose your handheld or get it taken. It's still pretty obvious, but they've come in handy before." He put the bracelet on her left wrist, gently and very carefully. He suddenly looked up her and retreated as soon as it was clasped. "Ah. If you push the watch face over, you can press the communications link button, and it will go to Anita. We made sure it was extra durable to withstand your training and the hoverboards. Titanium."

The watch had a thick chain bracelet and silver scrolls around the face. She pushed the face, and with a slight click, it swung out, revolving from a screw on the top. A plain silver knob sat to one side, with holes that she assumed were for a speaker or microphone. She pushed the face back into place with another click.

"It's really pretty," she said, then walked back around his desk, running her fingers over the chain. She hoped she couldn’t activate it by fidgeting.

"Yes, well Anita picked it out and set it up." He paused. "You should go do your workout with Nate. He is expecting you."

"Right." she said. "Thanks."

Later that evening, she logged on the game. The guild list showed Sterling and Anita online. She typed hello on the guild chat channel.

"Hello Nayeli" wrote Renata. "How are you enjoying the game?"

"It's fun, but I'm still learning how to do everything."

"Let me know if you need any help, OK?" wrote Renata. Suddenly, a hundred gold tinkled into her account.

"I will. And… thanks?"

“It’s my pleasure.”

Arena ran around hacking at various creatures for about an hour, running quests and bringing back trinkets for more experience points. Then she spent twenty minutes shopping in the auction house with her newfound riches. A random glance at the clock told her it was past ten. No wonder people got addicted to these games.

She was about to turn in a quest where she found a lost child and brought her back to her mother when Solitaire appeared in front of her. He offered her some new equipment and buffed her, without saying much. She thanked him, but said she wanted to study before bed.

He vanished in a puff of smoke, most likely teleporting back to a location more his level. She played for a few minutes, then her message icon lit up. She wandered back to town and checked her message, which was sent from someone named Aeriela.

The message was cryptic: “I am looking forward to meeting the new little protégé. Hope they are training you outside of this silly game.”

Startled, she forwarded it to Anita. She wrote back, “You didn’t meet anyone with the same name?” Arena responded that she did not. “Okay, I’ll check it out. Probably just a troll or spammer.”

She logged off and opened one of the espionage books Nate had given her on developing contacts and assets. She had to look up half the words in her dictionary.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Hungry, she wandered out into the hallway and down to the common area. The light was on in the dining room, and she found Sterling in there, making a sandwich from the fridge. He looked up at her.

"Guess it's that time of night," he said. "You want a turkey sandwich?"

"Sure," she said. "That actually sounds pretty good right now."

He brought two plates with a sandwich on each and a package of Oreos tucked under his arm. Arena tried not to scarf it down in a few seconds. She shivered, wishing she had put on a sweater.

"Are you cold?" Sterling asked.

"A little," she said. "It's not a big deal, though."

He put his sandwich down and stood. Walking over to a panel on the wall, he pushed it a few times. Immediately, the room grew warmer.

"Wow, that was fast," she exclaimed. "What else does that panel do?"

"I can log in to the compound's mainframe and control just about anything from the panels in each room," he said, returning to the table and picking up his sandwich. "Not just temperature, but security, alarms, communications, and so forth."

"Was this place already like this, or was it built for the Misfits?" asked Arena.

"A little of both, actually," he said. "It was used as a Secret Service installation in case of emergency, but they sort of abandoned it for something a little fancier. We acquired it and did some renovations, including the security and control system. Much of the control system is Anita's design. She still likes to tinker with it and add new features."

“Don’t worry about that message earlier,” he said. “Anita and I will check it out, but it’s probably nothing.” He resumed his sandwich.

Arena nodded and sampled the Oreos, trying to nibble slowly to not look like a hog but wanting to scarf them down. The food had caused her to completely forget about it. Since she started here, she thought she lost some weight despite Nate's intense weight training sessions. She had always had trouble gaining weight despite the amount she ate. Since her parents ran a restaurant, there were always leftovers. She could probably eat all day if she had time to do so. Luckily, meals were always good.

"How many people work down here, altogether?" she asked, really curious.

"There are nine on the team, including you, and four support staff. Alice is the mechanic and night security guard, but you don't often see her since she works nights. Sharon makes the food and takes care of the kitchen, and also manages housekeeping. Kinah is a housekeeper, and Greg is our top-level security head over the Decoys."

"How do they get a job like this?"

"Alice, Kinah, and Greg are CIA support staff. They've been through basic training, and they all act as extra security here. Kinah works part-time, but makes a full salary. Sharon is retired from the CIA and actually volunteered for this. Unfortunately, retirement pay isn't what it used to be. But I think she likes to cook a lot more than she ever liked being a field agent." He chuckled. "I told her she should open a bed and breakfast, but she said she'd be too worried they were hacking her files at night."

Arena decided she would get to know the support staff, especially Sharon. Sharon certainly was a marvelous cook. They finished eating in silence, but not before Arena ate five more cookies.

"Sterling, what made you decide to work for the CIA," she asked.

He sighed. "I was actually recruited, so my situation was somewhat similar to yours, I suppose. They didn't exactly give me much of a choice, except well, I kinda drew their attention, and that's my fault. When I was in college, I was attempting to get a little more information about past nuclear programs in the United States of America than perhaps was--legal."

Arena looked at him, shocked. He broke the law just for random research?

He saw her expression and began laughing. "I was cocky in college. I thought I was too good to get caught. Plus, I was extremely naive. I quickly found out I was wrong. I may be good, very good, but there are people much better at security systems. Anita, for one. She could have caught me in a heartbeat. I was given a choice to be recruited to the CIA, or face never graduating, which probably sounds familiar to you."

She didn’t really wanting to be reminded.

"Sorry," he said, and he looked sincere. "It's one of their favorite tactics for creative miscreants, and since they tend to recruit highly-driven people, it tends to be effective."

Arena nodded rather reluctantly. "So, what did they originally recruit you to do?"

"They placed me as an analyst pretty much right away. Some of the tests we gave you show what people are best at and where the best placement for them would be. I took similar tests, though they would already be considered outdated. Anita's strength may be computer and security systems, but I can run rings around her in ferreting out information and determining whether it is useful."

"So what did my tests say? Do you know?"

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "Yes, well, you're pretty well-rounded, which pretty much screams 'field agent'. Good student, decent IQ, able to analyze information quickly, and a fair physical ability. Nothing that would probably surprise you terribly. Most of those tests are common sense. They tell the CIA what you yourself could probably tell them. They just don't know you and need the tests to find out what most of your friends could have told them."

That did make sense, to an extent. She wasn't sure she knew what her IQ was, but she decided not to press it.

"Well, I should probably take a shower and go to bed. Starting to stiffen up a bit."

He nodded at her. "I should go to bed, too. Always something new to do. See you in the morning?"

She nodded. "Good night," she said to Sterling as she left.

"Good night."