Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of How About A Lie?

“Congratulations Level 5 Alastair, you are now Level 6,”  Some Level 7 Agent told him as they gave him his new badge, despite the fake enthusiasm in their voice, their face still displayed one of boredom. He tried to pay attention to what they were saying, he really did, but all the paperwork thrown his way and his previous knowledge of the role just made it slide straight through one ear and out the other.

That was 5 hours ago, 5 hours before he stands in the room facing 4 other people.

He stormed through the complex, all the older agents and some younger ones who knew why he was upset looked amused as he went past, others who had no idea just dove out his way in fear of being on the receiving end of his wrath. “NO! No, no and no, this is not happening!” He yelled as he stormed into Level 7 Alastair’s office, the older man knowing he was coming and so cleared his schedule for the next hour-long argument.

“I’m afraid you have no choice, Dean, unless you want to be a level 5 for the rest of your life.” He finally found an answer that made Dean storm out of that room too.

That was 3 hours ago, 3 hours before he cursed out the entire team of agents who had a part in giving him this team of 4 others. Dean had left them waiting for 3 hours, sitting in the briefing room, waiting for their new leader to turn up. When he does, he may as well have just walked into his lowest circle of hell.

“I want your names, levels, highest class and label.” He snaps at them, sitting at the head of the table with all of their folders in front of him, although they remain closed.

A long sigh leaves his mouth as he turns to the first person immediately to his left, he knows her, but that doesn’t matter now. Although the smirk of amusement on her face made it very clear that she is going to be a pain in his a*s. “Level 5 Kye Keme, General, I am a field agent.” Her voice matches the amusement on her face, although professional, has the underlying tone of mockery at answering his question.

Without any reaction or response to her, he turns to the next one, this one he doesn’t recognise, his golden brown hair in such a mess that it shows his nervousness, although he had tried to keep it neat. “Level 3 Logan McDermott, my highest class is Science and I’m a scientist,” His eyes shift from the table to Dean’s face and back again, the intimidation the higher agent gives off causing him to lose what little nerve he’d given himself.

The girl second to Dean’s right doesn’t say anything, her eyes staring back at him in a passive yet defiant way. “Name. Level. Class. Label.” Dean enunciates each word, annoyance clear behind them as he stares her down. But still she doesn’t say anything. “Level 4 Isla James, Technology and our communications person. Although it seems she needs a refresher course on what that actually entails.” He brings a scowl to her face and seems pleased about it as he turns to the final person.

This boy gives off a very arrogant auror, something that makes Dean look at Kye with a raised eyebrow and the latter’s smirk grows wider. “Christopher Bennett, Level 2, I think my highest class is “Elegance and Sophistication”,” He brings his fingers up to show the quotation mark around his class, his scoff afterwards showing his annoyance at it. “I’m an engineer,” He quickly adds, looking at Dean’s expectant look.

“As I’m sure you’re aware of Keme and James, Level 3s and below do not get their own teams, however, Bennett and McDermott are special cases.” Dean informs the two girls, looking between them shortly. “If you would like to know why, ask them not me because I do not care.” He stands and turns on the projector. 

Blurry pictures of a man flick onto the screen around another picture of a small corner store, “We’re being sent on a milk run. The mission is just to go in get-”

“Sir?”

Dean’s eyes close and a long breath leaves his lips as he turns to face the team, staring at Logan with a raised eyebrow and having to spit out a sharp, “What?” In order to get the boy to actually speak.

“We-Well, um, Mr Level 6 Agent Alastair, Dean Alastair, sir- it’s just that- shouldn’t we, you know, get to know each other first?” Logan stutters through his sentence, his words getting quicker until they were barely legible. Kye covers up a small snort of laughter by coughing dramatically when Dean leans against the back of the chair with his head hanging.

The leader doesn’t raise his head as he starts to speak, “Get to know each other? Get to- McDermott does this look like a summer camp to you?” He finally snaps, pulling his gaze up to stare directly at the boy.

“N-No, sir. I just-” Logan tries to explain himself but Dean doesn’t give him the chance. The leader crossing his arms over his chest and griting his teeth as if just having to converse with him caused him great strain and annoyance.

“This is a mission, Level 3.”

“I understa-”

“Understand silently.” 

Dean turns back to the screen, crossing his arms again, “As I was saying. This is a milk-run, we go in, grab the information from this man,” He enlarges the blurry photograph of the man, “This is the best picture we’ve got of him. He’ll have guards but we are not to engage them. Things get hairy, we get out of there, no casualties on this particular mission, he’ll have a briefcase, we get that and we get out.” He spins on his heel as he flicks off the screen, pushing the files across the table.

Each file slides towards a random person, “Open them. If you have your own file, switch with someone else, read each other’s files. Research each other. You are to report to the hanger in 2 hours.”

Chris flicks open the file in front of him, “Kye Melanie Keme” was the name at the top of this file, “Sir,” He starts, turning away from the file to look at Dean. “Shouldn’t we get to see yo- nevermind, forget I said anything, it’s okay,” He cuts himself off mid-way through his sentence when he sees Dean’s face.

Two hours went far too quickly for Dean’s liking, he had gone to his office and gotten paperwork sorted for their mission. The whole group was a random mix of people thrown together, a challenge from his father just for his own amusement, the amount of names Dean could’ve called him that moment stretched further than all the known words.

Kye wasn’t overly bad, Dean had known her since she was born, the two of them being raised like siblings within the academy. Despite Dean being a year older and starting earlier Kye still managed to keep up, pushing the boy to his extremes and vice versa. He’d never admit it but he was happy to have Kye on his team, someone he knew their strengths and weaknesses and someone who he knows will stand beside him.

The other female, Isla, on the other hand was an entirely different story. He had heard her name as she rose to the top of the entire Technology section by the time she was level 4. Dean flicked through her file countless times, memorising the notes from her instructors about what they thought her skills were like. She had already annoyed him with the lack of talking, honestly, she’s the communications person, how is he supposed to allow her to be on coms and computers if she won’t speak to him, that in itself is dangerous.

Gabriel very clearly had fun when choosing Logan for his son’s team, the genius scientist that could not even look at a gun without passing out with the possibility of vomiting. Every instructor and psychologist in Logan’s file detailing the boy’s inability to go into the field. Dean was astounded that somehow a level 3 was still on the first level for every combat class there was, and yet was top of the science field. 

Out of all the people put on Dean’s team, the one he could not stand the most was Christopher, the only reason for him being allowed on the team was his parents. His very rich parents. In Dean’s opinion Christopher should not even be allowed out of level 1, the kid had never worked for anything in his life. The observations in his file had one common theme: His arrogance. The rich boy was the whole and complete form of what Dean expected him to be, cocky, arrogant and a show off.

As Dean approached the hanger, looking at his team already there and waiting, he knew he was going to turn them into the best damn agents in the academy. Although he had his work cut out for himself and he couldn’t think of anything worse, he would. Out of pure spite. His father didn’t think he could do it, and he knew that, but of course he would prove him wrong. He’ll fix Christopher’s attitude problem. He’ll get Isla to talk to him and do her job. He’ll manage to get Logan to shoot a gun. He’ll help Kye rise to the agent he knows she can be, even if it means she’ll no longer be on his team.

“Bennett! Get your a*s off the floor!” Dean barks at the boy sitting cross legged beside Logan’s legs, Christopher jumping to his feet instantly.

Author's Note

It's not finished yet, but updating everytime I write more.