Agent X 3rd Gen (part 2)

Continued~

Section 2: The Farm

~ ~ ~

“A farm? You want me to live on a farm?” Caitlyn asked, confused. Where was the danger? The excitement? All those things promised?

 

“Well…yes. There are people I want you to meet.” Jessie pushed open the door to the house and Caitlyn followed obediently inside. They walked into the hall and around the sofas sat four people.

 

“Everyone, this is Caitlyn. She will be staying here for this period of time.” Jessie gestured at the first two people- an old couple around sixty. The lady was not very big; she had a head full of gray hair and a radiant smile. Her husband was a large rugged man, skin tanned from hours working under the sun. He also had large arms, a result of long years of working the farm. “Caitlyn, I want you to meet Grandpa Will and Grandma Jo. They will be the ones that will be taking care of you for now. they were the ones that raised me when I was young and I owe so much of who I am now to them”

 

Caitlyn shook hands with both of them and nodded politely at them. Jessie proceeded on “and these two ladies will be your aunts. This is Aunt Tristin, and this is Aunt Carolina.”

 

Caitlyn meekly extended her hand Carolina shook it. “Nice to meet you.” Carolina said elegantly, almost on the borderline of frostiness.

 

Tristin almost shoved her sister aside to grab Caitlyn’s hand and pump it up and down vigorously. “Hi I’m your Aunt Tristin!” she said excitedly, “ so you’re Caitlyn, from what Jess keeps saying I had imagined you to be taller, but never mind. Oh, you are going to have so much fun here. You are going to do so many things!”

~

 Two years passed quickly for Caitlyn Reynolds there at the farm. She learnt to help out in many things, from pulling weeds, to washing dishes, to picking corn, to milking cows. But among the many things that she learnt the one thing that she loved the most was:

 

Playing chess.

 

After grandpa Will had taught her how to play she was hooked immediately. Every night after dinner Caitlyn would bring out the chess set to grandpa’s rocking chair by the fireplace and they would play three sets each night.

 

Another thing that she enjoyed doing was reading about history in general. After being able to read more independently she would read some of the old books that she found in the house on history, and anything that she did not understand she would ask those questions over meal time.

 

Jessie came regularly to visit. And every time she came, Caitlyn would pester her for a game of chess. Not being the biggest fan of chess, and for a good reason, most of the time Jessie would decline. But the few times where she finally conceded to the earnest pleading of young Caitlyn, Jessie would go on to lose the game really handily, and would have to be subject to the peals of laughter from Caitlyn for the rest of the night.

 

Grandma Jo explained: “you see…your mom has never been that big at chess. She feels that the way the game works is very limiting and stifling for her. Her strength comes from thinking way outside the box, and chess allows very little of that.”

 

Carolina and Tristin also came over to visit occasionally when they had time off.

 

Carolina would spend entire afternoons seating at the fireplace sipping tea, engaging Caitlyn in talks about anything under the sun. She did not enjoy playing chess, so at times Caitlyn could find these sessions quite tiring.

 

Tristin on the other side would take Caitlyn out to the fringes of the farm area, going hiking, climbing trees, or just running around enjoying the great outdoors (at least that’s what Tristin calls it)

 

~

 

Jessie waited until Caitlyn was twelve years old before revealing to her that the farm was not just merely an ordinary farm. After the birthday dinner Jessie led everyone outside and to the back of the barn. She pointed to the door at the back of the barn and said to Caitlyn: “That door, knowing you, I am sure it has been the source of many nights of puzzlement. But I am pleased that you did not allow your curiosity to get the better of you and barge in to investigate it on your own. Well now you shall know the secret of “the-back-of-the-barn-door-that-does-not-lead-to-the-back-of-the-barn”.”

 

Jessie opened the old door and went in. the rest followed and Jessie hit the lights on.

Caitlyn stared in amazement. The entire interior hollowed out of the bottom of the barn and extended downward at least two stories. The entire space was like a giant metal cube with all walls coated with some metallic looking material. In the middle of the room was a giant translucent sphere that almost touched the walls. On the near side of the room was a platform that hovered just on the inside of the sphere, and there was a similar platform on the three other sides of the room. Each platform had six holographic displays and screens floating around.

 

Everything looked futuristic, everything looked high-tech.

 

Jessie strode into one of the platforms and fired up the entire system. Everything glowed and whirring noises were heard as clunking and thumbing slowly settled into a rhythmic wum-wum-wum-wum pattern.

 

Caitlyn looked around at the others. Grandpa Will held Grandma Jo’s hand as they both looked unwaveringly at Jessie. Carolina caught her eye and gave Caitlyn the smallest smile. Tristin beamed at her and patted her on the head.

 

“This,” Jessie said proudly, “is the Arena System. This, Caitlyn, is my chess.”

 

“The Arena System essentially is a next-generation battle simulator,” Jessie went on to explain as she keyed in some codes to get the system running. “You can choose any known battle in history and it will allow you to be the general and you can command your forces any way you like, that’s what your aunt Carolina always does. There is also the option that aunt Tristin especially loves, and that is the auto command option that allows you to go to the front line to fight as one of the soldiers. This technology is really advanced so it is immersive and it is in 3-D. it has an online function but not many people really get to play this. Still, the system will notify you if there is an online opponent.”

 

Caitlyn continued to stare dumbstruck, unable to speak. Tristin was doing her stretching all this while, and finally she strode forward and said to Jessie:” alright, let’s play one round to give Caitlyn a taste of how this all works.”

 

“Sounds good to me” Jessie activated the system as Tristin went to the far side and took up her position in the platform there. “So what battle are we playing?”

 

“Thermopylae” Tristin called out. “And I get Sparta!”

 

“Fine.”

~

As the lights dimmed as the program loaded, Tristin called Caitlyn over to her platform. “Here Caity, you can stand in my platform, the interface is easy enough to understand and if you watch this battle carefully you will be able to understand enough to be able to start playing by yourself after this.” Tristin continued her stretching. “I’ve already preset the standard Thermopylae strategy so everything should run as normal. The thing about this particular battle is that it’s pretty linear. I will have the normal Spartan wall, and also a small force to guard the pass to prevent an ambush. Eventually the Persians larger force will overrun the Spartan formation but I will have one last shot at skewering your mom with my spear at the end before they kill me—and that’s another way to win, you kill of the enemy tactician in game.”

~

Caitlyn looked around at the difference screens and projections as the game started. Her jaw dropped as she surveyed the realist rendition of Thermopylae Pass. The trees, the rocky plateau, the sound of the waves, the glare of the sun, the smell of the sea, all felt so…real. She looked down at the crowd of men and saw her aunt Tristin at the head of them giving their inspirational talk. On one of the screens Tristin observed the Morale bar fill up as the talk ended with a resounding roar, chest thumping, and all that jazz. Caitlyn looked around at the other screens to take in the size of the Spartan force, the scouts’ estimate on the enemy, maps of the surrounding area, percentage of winning, and so on. Every possible variable that would affect the success of the battle was on one of the screens

 

Caitlyn knew that she was supposed to just sit back and observe.

 

But…

~

“General Jessie! One of the scouts report that the guards at the secret pass have retreated to join the main force! We should consider storming down that pass to take the Spartans by surprise from the rear.”

 

“What?” Jessie said aloud. She was confused. On one hand she saw the logic that bringing the extra men over. A surprise flank by those guardsmen from the pass on one of the Persian attacking waves would undoubtedly crush that wave and raise Morale for the Spartan army, allowing them to fight longer and harder.

 

Then again that would mean leaving the rear exposed for a possible rear attack, the textbook and historical way to lose the battle of Thermopylae. It was a trap, a bait to try and get her to commit her strongest units or even herself-only to get wiped out.

 

But…if that were the case then Tristin would not be fighting in her usual no-brain-whack-enemy style. She should be playing way more cautious if she was trying to bait that out.

 

Tristin is taking a gamble in this battle? That is so not her style; it’s too….Carolina-esque.

 

Jessie called out:” Send our alpha legions over to the pass. I shall personally break through the rear of the enemy.” She raised her lance, and hurried over to the pass.  

~

Jessie crept forward quietly with the two best legions she had under her command on her heels. They were almost out of the pass, only a sharp left and then a hundred meter sprint to the backline of the Spartan army.

 

She turned the corner…only into a wall of rocks as high as the pass itself.

 

More rocks were rolled down behind them, trapping them in the pass. Jessie cursed under her breath. She looked up and saw the sentries of the pass lined up along both sides of the pass as their commanding officer called down volley upon volley of arrows…

~

Jessie fell to her knees at her platform as she kicked herself mentally for falling for the most basic trick in the strategy book: Bait, Trap, Destroy.

 

Tristin was incredibly confused as the wave of enemies she was hacking and slashing suddenly faded away as the chaotic battle scene turned back into the giant metal cube with a huge sphere in the middle.

 

“Hey what happened? Did the system glitch?” Tristin asked, arms up in battle position as if she was ready for the battle to continue any moment. “Hey…why does it say that I won here? Did Jessie accidentally fall on her sword or anything?”

 

Carolina was the first one to catch on. She stepped forward, clapped her hands, and called out:” Well done Caitlyn! Congratulations on your first victory.”

 

Jessie facepalmed and sighed while Tristin leaped up back to the platform to hug Caitlyn. She then pounded the small girl on the back and said: “Great job girl! I did not even realize the battle was over. You know, we must do co-ops together in the future. I usually do those hard ones with my sister but she always does not let me fight the enemy head on, that is so irritating. But with you, you can do your shenanigans while I have my fun right? I so look forward to that!”

 

Caitlyn smiled sheepishly as she walked back to where Aunt Carolina, Grandpa Will and Grandma Jo were standing while Jessie and Tristin shut down the Arena System.

 

Grandpa Will ruffled Caitlyn’s hair while Grandma Jo leaned over to whisper in Caitlyn’s ear:” Enjoy this victory while you can dear, you mom only loses on rare occasions: this is one of those times.”

~

Later, after Caitlyn had gone to sleep, the five adults gathered near the fireplace to discuss what they have all witnessed.

 

“I still cannot tell if Caity is relatively simple-minded or some super analytical genius” Tristin chewed on a cookie as she pondered over the event.

 

“Well…it really can be taken both ways, and also isn’t there that saying that says “the simple of this world shall school the wise”?” Carolina answered smoothly, gazing meaningfully at Jessie.

 

Jessie harrumphed and fired back:” at her age I would have taken out a few of the enemy soldiers, make my men wear them, get close to the commander and assassinate him.”

 

“Dear, that’s because you ARE a tactical genius and you started playing the Arena System at nine.” Grandma Jo patted Jessie on her hand reassuringly.

 

“I think that this can be best explained by the fact that this game was Caitlyn’s first game on the Arena System and prior to this, she practically only played chess: a really direct game, hence her direct approach and tactics.” Grandpa Will commented.

 

“Speaking of chess, did you guys hear,” Tristin interrupted, “just the other day when I brought Caity out to climb that tree on the fringe of the property, while we were up in the branches she suddenly whipped out her chess set and asked me to have a game with her, IN THE TREE. Can you believe it?”

 

“She is already so good at strategy games, give her some time to familiarize herself with the Arena System and she can only get better.” Grandpa Will concluded.

 

“Now get some sleep all of you, in your line of work I heard that’s a rare commodity.”

~

Caitlyn spent around another year at the farm, helping out in different areas with the farm, doing her basic history and languages, math and science with Grandma Jo. Chess and the Arena System with Grandpa Will. She also had music lessons, ballet lessons, cooking lessons, social etiquette lessons and so on. Jessie, using the three years, was trying to pack a full, complete, holistic education for Caitlyn. For her to grow, not just physically and mentally, but also to grow her morals and values, her strengths and talents, for what lay ahead in the future.

 

When the time came for Caitlyn to leave the farm she was almost inconsolable. The day before she left she was crying the whole time- she simply could not bear to leave the familiarity of the farm that she had grown so close to, to Grandpa Will and Grandma Jo. But on the morning when she was to depart, as they were waiting in the house for Jessie to arrive to pick Caitlyn up, both Grandpa Will and Grandma Jo took turns to encourage Caitlyn.

 

“Dear, wipe your tears and give us one of your bright smiles. Please do not let your time here on the farm with us conclude with tears, instead let this end with your radiant smile and laughter, like how most of the three years have been.” Grandma Jo spoke softly, overcome with emotion.

 

“Child” Grandpa Will said, “Let me just say this in a way that you will understand. Life, essentially, is like chess, and you would be just the little pawn. You are a little pawn that can only do so much, but has infinite potential to become a rook, a castle, a bishop, or even a queen. You as the pawn can only move forward, never backwards, only forward. At times you may be faced with the impassable obstacles, but no one expects the pawn to always solve the issue by itself; it is up to the stronger pieces: the rook, castle, bishop, or queen to take care of that impossible obstacle and allow the pawn to continue to move forward. Your mom is the queen on this chessboard, and right now she is busy racing around taking out the pieces that she sees will hinder you in your progression forward. Your aunts similarly are the important pieces on this chessboard, working closely with your mom to achieve whatever she wants.” He paused to think over his next few words. “Caitlyn, when you as the pawn draw closer and closer to the opponent’s side of the chessboard you will come under a lot of heavy focus and attack. But know this: every other piece will be willing to sacrifice themselves in order for you to reach the end because they understand that even if they fall, you reaching the end can replace them, or even surpass them. What do we call trading a rook in order for the pawn to reach the end and turn into a queen?”

 

“We call that, worth.”

 

Grandpa continued on, head bowed. “Young one, there are two kinds ways chess players view pawns. The first kind use pawns to shield more important pieces and sacrifice the pawns with no second thought. The other views the game’s main objective not capturing the enemy king at any cost, but rather to slowly and advance and transforms the pawns and dominates the game that way. One looks short term, the other looks long term- sometimes even to the next generation.”

 

“And Caitlyn, we all know which kind of player your mom is…”

~

Jessie finally came, all flustered and bumbling around heaving Caitlyn’s parcels and luggages into the rented car outside.

 

After all the hugs and kisses, the emotional goodbyes and last words, Caitlyn took one last look over her shoulder back at the old couple that raised her for the last three years. The magnitude of her gratefulness to them could not have been expressed fully; she was determined to live a life that would make them proud.

 

She got in the front seat and looked over at her mom starting the car. Caitlyn said:” yeah, mom, up till now you have never told me where we are going.”

 

“Well,” Jessie replied, strapping on her seat belt and flooring the accelerator, sending the car lurching forward. “I seem to recall doing a similar thing three years ago, bringing you to a place without telling you exactly where that was going, and when its time to leave, you practically begged to stay . I’m sure where we are going will turn out well for you.”

 

Caitlyn nodded, somewhat comforted by that statement. She was confident her mom was bringing her to a better place. But what place could be better than the farm with Grandpa Will and Grandma Jo? She could not imagine.

 

“Though…” Jessie said, eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated on the road ahead. “I cannot say that this next place is going to be easy.”

 

“Oh no it’s not another farm is it?” Caitlyn’s eyes widened with horror. “If it is why couldn’t I just have stayed with Grandpa and Grandma instead?”

 

“I never said it was a farm.”

 

“Oh- …you know what mom? I’m just going to not think about that until we reach wherever we are going to.” Caitlyn turned away, looked out the window, and tried to sleep.

~

By the time she woke up the car had stopped for quite awhile and her mom was gone. She looked around and stepped out of the car. Her hand carry luggage was standing right outside her door but the rest of her boxes and baggage were all gone.

Caitlyn stood outside the car staring off into space, she was so confused. What was going on?

 

Suddenly her mom’s voice came from behind and called out. “Caitlyn, so nice of you to finally wake up, would you want to take your luggage and follow me?”

 

Caitlyn turned around, but the person that she saw was not Jessie Reynolds, Caitlyn’s adopted mom. It was Jessie Reynolds, Agent X.

 

She had her hair tied up in a tight and high ponytail. She was wearing a high collared, long sleeved black top, black utility pants, high black all-terrain boots, and a belt that had a silver case on the right side and a sword draped on the left.

 

In addition to that she wore a short cape that extended from her waist down and flapped in the wind as she strode purposefully forward. Black sunglasses, gloves, and gauntlets completed the look.

 

This was not the bumbling and haphazard, wearing blue plain blouses with khaki skirts, scatterbrained mom that Caitlyn used to know and roll her eyes at. This was a completely different person, and someone that commanded fear and awe.

 

Caitlyn quickly grabbed her luggage and dragged it over as she fell in step behind Jessie as they headed into the building. As they entered, Caitlyn saw what was behind the glass at the far side of the building and her fear fell away to excitement.

 

“Planes!” she exclaimed, “Mom, are we going to fly off to somewhere?”

 

“Yes dear,” Jessie had finished putting on her gloves as she loved her sunglasses to give Caitlyn a wink and a smile. “I hope that you will enjoy this.”

~

“Mom…are you sure about this?” Caitlyn asked, almost worriedly, as the two of them walked across the tarmac with Caitlyn rolling her luggage behind her. “I read somewhere about how the airport works, and it did not mention us walking to a plane like how we would walk to our car. And where are the other passengers?”

 

“Well…there will be no other passengers for this flight, because not everyone is allowed to where we are headed. And as a result, “Jessie waited at the bottom of a small sleek looking private plane whose stair was slowly unfolding to allow the Reynolds to climb up into it. “We have the whole plane to ourselves.”

 

“That means you can get the window seat on your first flight.”

~

“Please buckle your seatbelts we are about to reach our destination.” The pilot’s notification came over the intercom.

 

“Wow mom we’re reaching…” Caitlyn had her face pressed against the window as she tried to look at everything at the same time, afraid to miss anything. “Where is this place anyway?”

“mmm? Oh yeah, this is one of the places that I work at.” Jessie fumbled for her sunglasses as she fished them out of their case as they prepared to disembark.

 

“And you have to wear that?” Caitlyn turned to stare at her mom, eyes wide.

 

Seeing her mom nod, she asked:”then…is what I’m wearing okay for where we are going?”

 

Jessie looked over at her daughter in her pink top and checkered dress. “You look fine”

 

“Also, when we get off the plane if people call out “Ms Reynolds” they are probably addressing me, not you.”

~

The plane came to a complete stop at the middle of a hanger. The ladder unfolded down and Jessie slid on her sunglasses as she stepped out of the plane, Caitlyn always keeping no more than two steps behind.

 

It was a big place. The hanger itself extended up four stories, with doors leading to who-knows-where, Caitlyn certainly did not know. There were so many people as well, everyone walking in groups of twos and threes, each walking towards a pre-determined place, no one was just loitering around.

 

“Ms Reynolds, could you please look at this…” “Ms Reynolds, something has come up that requires your attention…” “If you have the time, Ms Reynolds, please address this…” Caitlyn watched as people kept coming up to her mom to give her some file, ask her to sign something, key in some code and so on. Jessie kept walking forward, no matter how many people had come up to her with requests, she never slowed down.

 

The people around are fascinating, Caitlyn thought to herself, male or female, they were either wearing full suits with ties or a similar outfit to what her mom wore. But some of the suits were completely white; others even red, the rest were plain black. What kind of job was this?

 

The two of them finally reached the room Jessie was heading towards. It had a long meeting table on the near side and at the other side were two rows of computers with multiple screens each and people manning each one. On the wall was the logo of this entire organization: a black circle, a white circle, and a red circle, all three intersecting each other in a triangular formation. At the bottom of the logo there were three words: Efficiency, Purity, Strength.

 

Caitlyn was still looking at that when two figures that stood at the far side of the table facing the rows of screen turned around and one gave a high-pitched scream of excitement.

 

Her aunt Tristin rushed over to give her a hug while aunt Carolina stopped by Jessie to shake her hand to welcome her back.

 

Feeling very out of place and a little embarrassed, Caitlyn looked down. Aunt Carolina was wearing a white suit with her white dress and heels. She did up her hair and had on a smart pair of glasses. Aunt Tristin had her hair tied into two ponytails and was dressed very similarly with Jessie, only hers had a red trimming trace the outline of the outfit, and she had a long sliver metallic-looking staff strapped to her back.

 

Caitlyn looked at what she was wearing and really wished that there was something she could change to. At least something black so that she could not stick out so much.

 

Aunt Tristin had been talking non-stop in the way she normally does but Caitlyn did not catch everything that was said, then aunt Carolina came over and offered her hand. Caitlyn shook it slowly as her aunt said:” Welcome, Caitlyn, to Goodwill Base. I think you will fit into this place quite nicely.”