Chapter 15: A Gift and a New Old Friend
Zach
I swear, I will eventually develop something to ban every 12-year-old from online games because they are, honestly, the world's greatest enemy. Another thing I need to do is clean my desk because these new contraptions are really pesky. Mitchell's phone that I still needed to rewire, Astrid's eReader still needed to be upgraded, and now, Richie and I had to try to fix Jenna's gloves. She's a bit of a bully, but we are still a squad. As usual, the screen flashed with Captain Falcon: Winner when I easily falcon punched Kirby off the edge. Richie sat on the couch in the corner, trying to plan how we could repair Jenna's gloves. I could hear him grunt in frustration every now and again followed by a piece of paper flying over my head and landing in the garbage bin.
"Dude, have you thought about the NBA? You've made almost every shot!" I said to him, partially focused on the TV.
"My dad used to tell me the same thing, but I prefer tennis." he said without even looking up from his paper.
I paused the game and sat down next to him.
"You really think Jenna is quitting?" I asked. He was way too focused on these gloves and I needed someone more challenging to play instead of the easy computers.
"Jenna is pretty stubborn. Normally, once she makes a decision there is no swaying her." he responded, twiddling the pencil in his hand before writing down some lines and numbers on his paper.
He sighed. "Nope. That's not going to work either."
He crumpled the paper and threw it blindly at the bin. It hit the rim and fell to the ground.
"Mmm. Brick. There's goes your career."
He looked up at me, smiling, and then frowned again.
"Hey! That was a funny joke!" I said.
"Sorry dude. I was trying to think of something that I could do to fix this but everything I try, fails."
He threw the paper across the room, onto my desk next to Jenna's scorched gloves.
I walked over to my desk and looked at the blackened material.
"Richie, there is no way you can fix this. Other than the nearly disintegrating leather, the wiring is completely fried! You'd have to get a whole new pair of gloves."
"There is always a way to fix stuff, Zach."
Jenna may be stubborn but Richie is as stiff as a tree (although Astrid begs to differ).
I walked back to the couch, sat down, and snatched the pad away from Richie.
"Hey!" he complained.
"Richie, as your friend, I'm going to be nice. You're a really nice person."
"Zach, give me the pad back." he said as he stretched across me, trying to reach the pad.
"Upbubbub! No interrupting!"
Being over 6 feet tall, Richie almost reached the pad even though he was on the opposite side of the couch. I threw it onto the desk where Richie would have to get up to reach it.
He sat back in the couch, waiting for me to continue.
"As your teammate and fellow squad member, and I'm going to say this as bluntly, but kindly, as possible: you're more stubborn than Bethesda's creating crew."
He sat up giving one hell of a stare. "Thanks. I think? What exactly is your point?"
"My point is that we can't solve this through brain puzzles and super smarts. In fact, we can't solve this at all."
"Zach, how much Mountain Dew did you drink last night?"
"A lot. That's beside the point. Throw away your pad and pen. We are going to go make some new friends."
I grabbed Richie's arm and ripped him from the couch, his pen and paper falling to the floor. I pulled him to the door, grabbing Jenna's gloves off the desk on the way out. I pulled Richie down several corridors while he struggled to loosen my grip.
"Zach, where exactly are we going?"
"You're going to meet the best mechanic in the world, like Iron Man's alter ego, if Iron Man had an old car garage: Grease Monkey."
I pushed Richie into the elevator and we descended floor after floor, 52...51...50...
Richie stared at the descending number for several minutes. Low elevator music played in the background.
"Well, I can't wait to meet your sweaty, motor oil and flour covered boyfriend."
"Very funny, Richie. First of all, I'm not gay. Second, don't call Grease Monkey a him unless you want to offend the person holding several heavy metal objects. Third, Grease Monkey is not your typical downtown mechanic."
We continued to watch the numbers fall, B25....B26....B27...
"Zach, why are we in the basement?"
"We aren't going a basement. It's more of a garage. Just wait and see."
Finally, we reached B44, Grease Monkey's garage. Thank goodness because if I had to listen to 60s remix one more time, I'd jump down the elevator shaft.
We stepped out into the workshop. Lifts held vehicles high in the air, loud music played through the speakers changing from Taylor Swift to Imagine Dragons to Fall Out Boy. you could just barely see sparks flying from something behind one of the lifts. Of course, Grease Monkey was still working on her supersonic car/plane. Last time I came, I nearly blew it up by giving her the wrong screwdriver but hopefully she's let that go. We ducked under a half open Academy car, literally ripped in half with steel and wires all over the place. Grease Monkey was under the chassis trying to attach a retractable wing to the side of her car.
"Hey Greasey!" I yelled.
She didn't hear, doesn't really surprise me though, the number of explosions and loud music she's heard has probably destroyed her ear drums. I grabbed the megaphone off a table next to me. A ton of screws fell out the front. Grease is a lot of things, but one thing she isn't is organized.
"Richie cover your ears for this next part." Honestly, he looked so overwhelmed I don't think he could comprehend what was going on.
I screamed as loud as I could into the megaphone, "YO GREASEY."
Grease's feet jerked up and there was a loud clang from under the car. I walked to the back of the workshop and found Grease's old radio. I hit the big red OFF button on the side, unplugged it, and hit it behind a cabinet. Besides, Grease has a phone, she can just get Spotify off of that.
I walked back to the car. Richie was wandering around the workshop, mesmerized by all of the mechanics.
"Don't touch anything," I said, "I have no idea how functional and explosive Grease's stuff is."
"My stuff is fully functional, thank you very much!"
Grease slid out from under the car, covered in oil, as usual. She flipped her short hair over her shoulder and stuck her favorite monkey wrench in her pocket.
"So, what do you plan to blow up now Zach? I have a jet in the back that has your name on it."
Ugh, girls.
"First of all, that wasn't my fault. Second, I'm not here to blow anything up."
"You're a girl?" Richie said behind me, still in a dumb stupor.
"What do you mean you're a girl? Did you expect a big burly man with a beard and a cigarette? Surprise, surprise, girls can be mechanics too."
Grease gave Richie a death stare and he just looked back at her, completely stupefied.
Grease strolled up to him, and even thought she was half his height, slapped him across the face.
"Whoa! Grease!" I screamed.
"Relax, Volts, I'm just waking him up. Do you prefer I use Monkey here?" she said, patting the monkey wrench at her side.
"I told you to not call me Volts." I muttered. I do not want to get into that story right now, so don't even ask me about it!
"Sorry Sparky." she said giggling.
I just sighed. It seems like to be a spy you have to have an aggravating stubborn attitude.
"Okay guys. I think I'm good." Richie said leaning on a work table. I don't know if it was because Grease slapped him or he was trying to look calm. " So, what is you're actual name?"
"Grease and if you call me anything else, you'll end up on one of these lifts. Got it?"
Richie laughed. "You got it." he said smiling. I think Grease smacked him a little too hard.
"So, Grease we need to ask a favor of you." I said. I had to move this conversation along because Grease could talk all day.
"Anything for you Zappy." she said putting her hands on her hips. She really knows how to push buttons, mechanical and emotional.
I shoved the burnt gloves in her face. "Can you fix these?"
"Of course, I can. What were they?"
"Jenna's gloves" Richie quickly responded.
Her gaze became heavy. "What did you do to my gloves?"
"Your gloves? These are Jenna's." Richie said, confused once again.
"No I made these for Preston who gave them to Jenna. The little sucker gave away a perfect weapon. Well, apparently not perfect."
"What is the deal with this Preston kid?!" Richie asked.
"You go here and don't know the history of Preston Greene?" she laughed. "Go check the library you idiot. He is the biggest traitor to exist in the U.S."
"Grease, can you fix them?" I asked.
"Sure, I can. But that would require making a whole new pair. I have something better." she said, walking towards the back of the workshop.
We followed Grease to the back of the workshop to a blank wall. Just when I thought Grease had inhale too much gas fumes, she hit a button on the side of the generator. The wall rumbled and flipped inside out, screeching as the steel ran on the gears.
"The thing needs some WD-40" Grease murmured.
The entire wall became an arsenal, organized and labelled by people. A soft blue light glowed behind each hanging weapon. Things for everyone in the team, weapons, computers, and gadgets galore. A big bronze plate with my name on it held multiple guns, knives, and odd looking lightsaber type things. I picked up a small knife a turned it in my hand. Grease came over to me.
"That's one of my favorites. Press the buttons on the bottom."
There were 6 buttons on the butt on the knife like a bracelet. I went to press the dark maroon button, but Grease stopped me.
"Do not point that at me unless you want to have fried Grease Monkey."
Fried Grease Monkey?!
I pointed the knife at the line of small practice targets on the wall and pressed the button. The knife glowed bright red. I could feel the extreme heat coming off the blade.
"Slash the target" Grease commanded.
A huge gash marked the target where the knife cut through but also left a huge black scorch mark.
"Fire? This thing has different elemental functions?" I asked, marveled by its pure awesomeness.
"Exactly. Red is fire; its gets hotter than an oven so don't touch it. Blue is water and ice; it depends how long you hold down the button. Green for earth; you can blind people with dust, dirt, pretty much any earthy substance. Yellow is for electricity; it will zap the nearest thing metallic and shoots lightning bolts when you hold it down. White is for wind; it will release a huge gust of wind as long as you hold it down. Lastly, and my personal favorite, is black. Basically, the knife will split into 6 different smaller knives which are made for throwing. Are you accurate with throwing sharp objects?"
"I'm accurate with pretty much everything." I said, still twisting the knife in my hand, basking in its glory.
Zach stood over where a large black sign read Zach Hogan above a different array of weapons. I picked up the sheath off the hanger, stuck my new knife in it, and walked over to Zach who was holding a huge blue gun.
"Ah yes, I call that one Megaman. It's fashioned after Megaman's arm gun. Basically, just point and shoot. You can charge it up for bigger, stronger shots too."
"It's incredible!" he said, clearly as shocked as I was.
"Now to attend to our business." Grease said as she bumped Zach out of the way and began walked to Jenna's secret vault.
She grabbed a lacrosse stick off the hook and handed it to Zach. "This should be a fine replacement for those gloves."
"What does it do?" Richie asked.
"It can only be activated by Jenna, but I'll tell you what, you don't want to end up on either side of this stick."
"Cool!" Richie said. Great! Now the most level headed person on the team was going totally fanboy.
Grease took a little remote out of her pocket and clicked a button. The wall began to slide back and slowly go back to their plain steel look.
"Well, if Jenna is really leaving the Academy, I'd better go see her."
*******************************************************************************************
Everyone was waiting for us up at the front. Headmistress, Ms. Tick, Coach Harley, and the rest of the squad surrounded Jenna.
Astrid saw us first and ran up to us crying. "Guys, I didn't think she'd really do it! I watched her walk into Headmistress's office and resign."
She wrapped me and Richie in a huge bear hug and cried on both of our shoulders. She lifted her head, still sniffling. "You must be Monique. You're the world's greatest engineer, right?"
Richie stared at Astrid, dumb founded.
"As far as I know." she replied, as if Astrid and she were old friends. A few minutes ago, she wanted to rip me to shreds. "Yes, my name is Monique, " she said, giving Richie the old don't you dare glance, "but I normally go as Grease Monkey."
"Well, it's very nice to finally meet you Grease Monkey."
"You know her, Astrid?" Richie asked, no doubt surprised that the only engineering Astrid has paid attention to is fabric design.
"Of course! I've read about her everywhere! She made the world's first usable hover board that actually flies instead of the cheap excuses for mini segways! Maybe if you came to the library instead of playing video games with Zach every night, you'd actually know some of this stuff, Mr. "Smartest Person in the World"."
Mitchell walked up to us in his usual basketball shorts and T-shirt with his baseball bat in hand. "I'm so sorry guys. I tried to talk her out of it but, well, you see how it went."
"It's okay Mitchell, there's nothing we could've done about it." I said, patting him on the back.
Jenna was waiting in the center of the courtyard with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She looked like a normal girl I'd see in high school.
Richie met her first. "Whatever I did Jenna, I'm sorry, just please don't leave."
"You didn't do anything. I just need a break. I came here when I was 13, Richie. After 3 years, I need to go home for a bit."
They fist bumped and that was it, final words bound by mutual respect and a fist bump. Therefore, I don't interact with other teenagers. Video games are so much easier: you do what you want and if you mess up, hit the restart button.
Grease walked up to her next.
"You finally came out of your hole." Jenna said smiling.
Grease smiled back, "Of course. I have to say goodbye to the one person that uses their fist as a hammer!"
The girls hugged.
"I almost forgot!" Grease said. She pushed past Astrid and Richie and ripped the lacrosse stick out of my hand. She ran back to Jenna who was clearly surprised by the gift.
"Grease, this is awesome!" She said, twirling the black stick in her hands, getting a feel for her new gift. "Why?"
"It's something to keep you safe. If you ever anything, you know my number."
They hugged once more and Grease stepped back, standing with Astrid and Richie in front of the doors.
I just noticed Ms. Tick and Coach Harley were gone when Richie pushed me forward, signaling that it was my turn. Of course, I had to be last. Naturally the quietest and most awkward person should go when everyone is watching.
Jenna smiled as I solemnly made my way forward.
"It's okay Zach, I'll only be gone for a bit." Jenna said smiling. "You know, you were always my favorite of the brainy part of the squad. You're quiet and level headed. That's good. Most often, they're the most dangerous ones."
"Thanks Jenna," I said blushing. The only time she's complimented me was when I hacked into Mitchell's phone and made all of his workout music Taylor Swift songs. I still haven't decided if that was sarcasm or genuine friendliness. "I'm a huge fan of the way you punch things into submission. It's really cool, like a video game."
Jenna laughed. ""That's good to know I guess." We hugged and I backed up to join the rest of the group. Astrid, Mitchell, Richie, Grease, and me all standing in a big group with Jenna about to leave.
"I have one last gift." Headmistress said. She strode calmly up to Jenna, holding a small black box in her hands. " Here you go, dear."
Jenna lifted a shimmering silver chain from the box. It had a small quiver and a single arrow on it, one small charm.
"Thank you, Headmistress, It's beautiful!" Jenna said, marveling its shine in the early sunset.
"It's a tracking device. If you ever need any assistance, put the arrow in the quiver and a blue light should appear and that means help will arrive shortly."
"Thank you, Headmistress! Thank you everyone! I'll be back before you know it!"
"I'm sure you won't dear. Have a nice vacation!" Headmistress said waving Jenna off. We all watched the strongest member of our team walk into the town.
We stared at the sunset, even after Jenna was long gone.
"Okay students, we have a big day ahead of us! Everyone back to your dorms." Headmistress said, herding us through the doors. We all walked through the doors and down the halls solemnly.
"So, Grease, where's your room?" Richie asked.
"My garage, of course."
He must've been asking because there was an entire floor of dorms, but not seen or heard Grease upstairs in the weeks he's been here.
Headmistress lagged behind all of us, locking the doors as we came in.
"Good night everyone!" she said cheerfully as we marched to our rooms.
I was half way down the hall when I remembered I had a drive for Headmistress on every known location for possible recruits siting on my desk that was due 2 days ago. I ran to my room, grabbed the USB off my desk, and ran back to the Lounge where Headmistress was talking to her Communicator.
"Mission Accomplished ladies!" she said. "The muscle has been removed from the group. One down, five to go."
I hugged the corner of the wall. This was not possible; Headmistress is the nicest, happiest person to walk the Earth. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow. Maybe I heard it out of context.