mi high | the fourth agent

29 | the patient

"Oh, isn't this exciting?" Flatley asked as the students poured into the classroom, their hands filled with bags. "You can't beat the great outdoors."

"Well, I don't know" Mrs King said sceptically.

"Oh, come, come Mrs King. Where is your spirit of adventure?" Flatley asked, his excitement not faltering for a second.

"Not in some muddy field. I'm hoping to collect some fauna" she said, not sharing his enthusiasm.

"Look" Rose said. She was sitting beside Carrie and Alex was sitting behind her between Oscar and Avril, not a surprise there, "You might find insects boring but there is no need to be rude."

Rose leaned back and crossed her arms in offence and Carrie who previously had been half asleep straightened up. "Rose I wasn't" she explained, "I was up half night reading."

"School slumber party - Revenge of the uninvited" Oscar craned his neck to read the title of the book, "Isn't that a film?"

"Yeah! It's from the Pookie Plummer series of books. There is action figures even an online game" Carrie said excitedly, "Which is so cool, I get to be Pookie. Of course she is nothing like me, she's a real whimp, at least in the beginning."

"And I thought Alex was a nerd" Oscar muttered.

"Hey!" Alex said in offence, "I would defend myself but I did spend half the night playing Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Hero on my PlayStation" she added sheepishly.

"In the story Pookie is on a camping trip" Carrie changed the subject, "But this one girl doesn't get asked along. Anyways, I will spare Rose here of the gory details but she comes back as something-"

"Friends!" Flatley said loudly gaining everyone's attention, "Who is ready to go camping?" he asked just as their communicators started to buzz.

"Um, sir" Rose raised her hand, "I forgot my mosquito net" she added before walking out of the classroom.

"Uhm, insect repellant?" Carrie said, but it sounded more like a question.

"Uhm, I need a woggle" Oscar said uncertainly before he too ran out after Carrie.

"I need to get my extra food from Frank" Alex said standing up, "Because believe me, no one wants to be around when my food runs out" she told the class seriously before running after her friends.

They quickly ran to the elevator and went down. When the doors opened it revealed Frank, Stark and an unconscious man on a hospital bed. "Agents" Frank greeted them.

"That's Troy Greek" Rose said when they got close enough to see the man's face.

"Who?" Carrie asked confused.

"He's a master criminal and conman" Alex explained, "He works for SKUL."

"Worked for SKUL, he's defected" Stark said without looking at them.

"Don't you mean defective?" Carrie asked motioning towards his current state.

"What's with the blue rings?" Oscar asked, observing the rings that ran all over the man's neck.

"He had some very valuable intelligence he was supposed to bring us, but SKUL got wind of it" Stark explained. "Before we could bring him in they slipped him some poison."

"It's a very rare toxic. The only person capable of creating an antidote is in the deepest Amazon on an expedition" Frank informed them. "And won't be back in this country until tomorrow. Our patient is in a coma, with this machine the only thing that is keeping him alive. And we have discovered a group of SKUL ninjas trying to locate the patient and finish the job they started. He needs MI9 protection so he is staying here until the antidote arrives."