Alright this is a story that I have wanted to do for a very long time, it's based off of a club with the same name when I was a kid. Most of the characters except for the prologue are base off of real people who were CBI agents or who I think could have been if I had known them when I was younger. This story is still a work in progress so I apologise for any grammar errors that I have.
~ Prologue ~
"It has always been my experience, that bad news comes in the middle of the night"
[color=teal] The silent arc of the moon swept across the cloudless sky, the moon in all of its glory never wavered from its arc, nor did it ever ask for anything. It was a reliable constant in an unreliable universe. For millions of years man and animal alike would gaze up at the silver object in the sky and wonder what was out there. What ever was out there, would it come for them, and if so was it dangerous? The horrors that could plague this Earth though would never come from the vast distance of space. The horrors were already here, they had already been here for a long time. The horrors, like the moon, never wavered. They would come and go from our small planet as they pleased. We would never notice, because the horrors would never hurt us. They would stand, and watch, and scoff at our freedom, at our petty strife. They would laugh and mock us knowing that we would travel about our lives, never knowing they were there. Eventually they would begin to amass and gather, preparing to take a treasure that we never knew exist. When they were ready, when they had finished laughing and watching us with glee, they would come.
The warm thick air of a late summer night hung over the suburbs of Oklahoma City like a fog. Fall would be sweeping through the area soon; bringing colder temperatures and thick clouds; yet on this cloudless night, everything remained motionless and still. All of the cars and minivans were lined up perfectly in the driveway of each house. They would be used to take children to school and then off to work for the men and women. It was a task that was repeated by every member of the neighborhood each day. During the night the families would sleep comfortably in their beds secure in their knowledge they were safe, that the storm that was slowly brewing outside would never reach them. Outside the storm began to gather, at first it was just a few clouds that began to appear in the sky above. Soon the wind began to sweep through the streets, softly first and then picking up to a rich howl. The wind would turn and twist in the middle of the street, creating a primal dance as it circled and circled. The clouds above began to grown more and more thick, the swirling wind below began to call for the clouds and pull at them. The howling of the wind picked up into a roar as the clouds themselves reached down to the ever-growing cyclone that had formed on the street of the tranquil neighborhood. The cars, the ever-safe possessions of the families that lived there, began to lurch as they too were pulled into the cyclone and were twisted and mutilated in it.
Out of the cyclone came a deadly life, untouched and unscathed by the hell that had circled him, he walked out. His jet-black hair mirrored the night above him. His light skin and blue eyes allowed him to walk freely among everyone else with out being seen. With him came his brothers and sisters, each just like him able to walk on the Earth and blend into society. Each of them was carrying boxes and equipment that was foreign and unique to this planet. Each of them had a task that they knew they must hurry if they wished to accomplish it. The leader, the first to walk out, turned to his brothers and sisters as the cyclone died, he spread his arms wide as if to encompass the whole planet. With a grin and a smirk he bellowed out. “I have returned.”
Jessica Taylor had always been a night owl, even when she settled down and got a family, sometimes she would just get up in the middle of the night and stretch. With the wind blowing wildly outside she slowly got up to check on the children and prepare their lunches for the following day. Squinting down the hallway she tried to make her way towards the children’s room in the dark. At the same time constant lightning began to illuminate the hallway from outside. Jessica had lived in Florida for years and was used to tropical storms with loud rushing wind and constant lightning at night. Yet she had never experienced a storm like this before in Oklahoma.
Opening the door to the children’s room she glanced in, both of them were sound asleep, neither bothered by the howling wind or the lightning. She began to shut the door to go and fix the kid’s lunch when something troubling caught her eye. Shadows of men were walking past her children’s window outside. Dashing down the hallway as fast as she could, she grabbed the cordless phone from its cradle in the den and peeked outside the kitchen window. Outside men were moving around her front yard and street, placing boxes into cars, boxes that looked like they held military style weaponry. With a shaky hand she brought the phone to her ear and dialed the police.
In the sequence of ones and zeros that made up the phone system of each state, the federal government placed one small back door program in. This program was designed to be activated when a specific emergency happened, at that point the phone calls from that zone would be directed to the correct agency, so that no media source or outside source could cause a state of panic. When the portal opened, this program automatically redirected all phone calls in that area to the federal office known as the CBI.
The CBI otherwise known as the Children’s Bureau of Investigation was created several years ago. Its purpose is to monitor and police all traffic outside of Earth. It’s foundation was in accordance to the 1980 Inter-Universal accords. In which several humans from a series of Universes came to Earth to offer technology. In exchange Earth would quietly enter the network of Universes and Alliances. The Alien’s possessed technology that would allow anyone to travel from one universe to the next through a process that was dubbed slip string. To make sure that Earth would not exploit the technology, the Aliens pushed for several of the Governments of the world to create CBI agencies. In this agency Children ranging from ages of ten to eighteen would work as inter-universal travelers. The reason they decided on children was due to the fact that they believed adults to be untrustworthy. Ever since it’s founding the best and brightest children became recruited at the age of seven, trained and prepared, and at the age of ten they became official CBI Agents.
While the events in Oklahoma were happening, one lone CBI agent sat at her computer, her eyes glazed over in boredom. Sarah had been working the night shift ever since she had been brought out of the academy. For every three man team there was always a forth man, someone who stayed back and coordinated everything. For Sarah she had drawn the short straw and was stuck behind a desk for a year. Her hazel eyes slowly moved over to the intercom, with a sigh she keyed in the number for the gym where the other members of her team were busy trying to fight off their own boredom. “You guys are missing all the fun.” She smirked, the channel crackled, as her voice was relayed three floors down to where the gym was located.
“I’ve been on desk duty Sarah, just hang in there, it’s only a few more months.” Luke’s soft voice returned, he was the oldest of their team and was the closest to being discharged from the agency due to his age. Sarah fought back a small smile and keyed the intercom again.
“You can always take my place.” She tried knowing it wouldn’t work. Luke began to reply when her computer flashed red, screens and information flew across the computer, all of it appearing faster than she could read it. The speaker came alive in her ear with the voice of a panic stricken woman who was hastily describing what could sound like a military cue. On Sarah’s monitor a map of the area sprung to life showing that an unauthorized Slip String portal had appeared in the area just minutes before. “Hold on ma’am, the authorities are on the way.” Sarah spoke into the microphone near her mouth, the receiver changing her voice to sound like a middle-aged woman.
Swinging around in her chair Sarah tapped the intercom to the gym while her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Team six, we have a Situation Black.” Her voice was all business now. Situation Black being the codeword for a possible Alien invasion on Earth. “Repeat, Situation Black.” She spoke again into the microphone as alarms began to ring.
In the gym Luke had already released the basketball when the call came through. Sarah’s voice had changed from one of relaxation to one being filled with tension. Luke didn’t even need to glance over at his friend Danny, the second member of the team, and his opponent in the current Basketball game. Or the Japanese exchange agent named Mitsuki to know that they were already springing into action. All of them had been well trained and knew what to do. Mitsuki was the first to the door, opening the sliding glass door between the gym and the locker room. Luke and Danny were right behind her as she keyed in her locker.
Time was of the essence in this matter, and even though each team had trained for this, thousands of times, it was always a rush when it actually happened. Mitsuki quickly slipped the military style vest over her shirt and hiked up the pants over her shorts.
“Hurry.” Luke warned, as if any of them needed to be reminded. His newly changed clothes were already matted with sweat from the game.
“Done.” Mitsuki yelled in perfect English, she quickly swung the M4 assault rifle around her shoulder before sheathing her sidearm and locking the belt around her waste that carried the extra clips. With her gear locked in place she dashed out the door along with Luke and Danny who was a few steps behind her. The hallway that connected to the locker room led only to one destination. That destination was usually locked by a heavy three-foot thick metal door, yet with a Situation Black the door was swung open.
“You are clear on bikes four, five, and six.” The Slip String traffic commander’s voice echoed over the intercom as CBI Team Six entered the room. Inside the long room, which could double as several aircraft hangers, held two rows of Slip Bikes. Slip Bikes, which resembled futuristic silverish motorcycles, allowed teams to travel on slip strings. Usually a Slip String would take hours upon hours to travel; yet since it was only one point on Earth to another point on Earth, the travel was almost instantaneous.
“Everyone lock on to my Bike,” Luke commanded as he engaged his Bike. Having all the bikes follow his bike’s onboard computer was faster and easier than having the whole team download the coordinates. It seemed like forever but at last the coordinates to their location flashed across the bike’s onboard computer screen as the others in his team locked onto his onboard computer. “Team Six, move out.” He ordered, his engine revved to life as the bike pulled out of the space and backed onto the indoor runway. He only gave the others a few seconds before pushing the throttle forward. Sparks and wind flashed past him as the Slip String engine engaged, the colors in the room he was in seemed to morph and blend together, they swirled faster and faster until everything around him was solid blue. And then with a flash and a thunderous bang, his surroundings returned, only now he was flying down a two-lane road in a quiet neighborhood.
“Mitsuki, you take lead, get within scanning range and than hang back.” Luke repeated the procedure that every cadet knew. One man would scout a head about half way to the battle zone, just to the point that the radar on the bike could pick up everyone, and then he or she would stay at that position and relay the information back to the base along with sending it to the bikes. Those bikes would then move forward and attack.
“I can’t see a thing,” Danny commented as Mitsuki swung forward on her bike and road off down the long street. Luke didn’t reply, instead he was already busy relaying the coordinates to the containment crew so that they could come down and handle cleaning up the situation after the battle was done. “Everything okay Mitsuki?” Danny finally asked trying to break the tension.
His reply came in the form of a fireball, which billowed high into the sky, the stench of burning oil and metal lit on fire filled the air as Luke kicked off the brake and gunned the bike forward. “Damn it,” He swore under his breath as houses flashed past him. “I need a medic team and back up,” He roared into the earpiece hooked over his left ear. The only response he got was static. With Mitsuki’s bike destroyed, and the only relay dish with it, there was no way to contact the base.
“We should head back and get back up,” Danny’s voice through the short wave communication that the earpiece. Luke shook his head in frustration before slowing his bike as he road up to the strewn pieces of burning metal, which littered the road. Yellow and blue flames danced around him from the burning pieces of the slip bike while smoke filled the air along with the smell of burnt flesh. Vomit filled his mouth from the horrible smell and Luke turned toward the ground when a white flash blew past him. A flicker caught his eye of metal reflecting off the streetlamp down the street. Before he even had a chance to turn and give any thought to what he just had seen, his body was lanced with fire and hell.
Speckled dots danced in front of his eyes while the edges began to blur and blacken. Luke began to roll over in the soft grass in which he was thrown to when his bike exploded yet his broken and battered body would not even allow that simple movement. To his left he caught the faint outlines of men as they advanced onto him, in the distance another explosion could be heard along with more gun shots, in his mind he had almost no doubt that the explosion was Danny’s bike also. The darkness that was once only around the edges of his eyes seemed to rush forward faster and faster. He moaned as if it were a quiet plea for his life before the darkness in his vision engulfed him, and everything around him fell quiet.
Chapter One
[color=teal]Michael sat at the dinning table in the small suburban home in Nevada. The eggs on his plate lay there cold and untouched as his mom worked busily in the background. The bright morning sun cast a sweet orange glow across the room and upon Michael’s face. The room seemed to be in perfect harmony, a picture perfect morning, in a picture perfect family. Except for Michael, inside of him brew the turmoil of a violent hurricane. He sat at the table with his eggs and juice and a history book open that contained the mission report of all CBI activities within the last twenty-four hours. All of it written in code to make sure his family did not discover that he was the director of operations for the organization.
“You keep looking at that book that way, you will burn a hole right through it,” His mom commented as she finished packing her suitcase. Michael nodded silently and closed the book, rising from the table with out even touching his food. “You’re not going to eat?” She asked as Michael fixed his tie and pulled the coat on to complete his suit.
“The reason he’s studying so much is because he was up all last night talking to Marie,” His little sister chimed in, stretching out Marie’s name as if it were a taunt. Michael’s eyes did not even move from the page at the mention of Marie’s name, his little sister let out a bit of a grunt in annoyance since her taunt did not give off the desired effect. “You know maybe that is why his grades are slipping,” She tried going for a second attack now, if Marie couldn’t make him angry then maybe she could coax his mom into the fray.
“You’ve never seen my grades,” Michael replied as he flipped the page, his voice was calm and he spoke in a manner as if he was barely listening to his sister.
“Is that true? Are your grades slipping?” His mom chimed in, his sister flashed a grin of victory in his direction as he closed his book and rubbed his eyes. “I’m happy you found a girl and all, but you should focus on your grades.”
“My grades are fine, I have to run, I have that thing with the principal in a hour,” He lied about the last part, before anyone could protest he quickly before grabbing his books and racing out the door. His mom watched as he ran out the door and down the street, his short auburn hair waving in the breeze as he ran in the opposite direction of the school. She shook her head in disgust and murmured about how weird her son had become in his teenage years.
Michael made the two blocks between his house and the old rocky field that was at the end of the subdivision in just a few minutes. The last thing he wanted to do was keep the President waiting on a national security briefing, and studying up on the mission reports had already caused him to run late. The rocky field that he had entered was easily familiar for him; it was the one place he would go to early in the morning, and the place he would return from late every night. At first glance there would be nothing interesting about the field, nor would there be anything remarkably interesting about the field if you took a up close look. Yet for Michael it was one rock in particular that held his particular interest. It was smooth and almost over shaped; the front of it came to a tapered point while the back end was smooth and round.
Michael quickly strode up to the rock and placed his hand on it, a snap and hiss responded to his touch and the rock split open to reveal a single seat inside, along with small computer screens and controls. “You’re late,” The voice of a young teen girl flashed over the speakers. Michael climbed inside and pulled the top half down as the chamber around him came alive with lights and computer monitors that displayed the power, and systems of the craft.
The craft was a slipstream pod used for transporting personal to either their homes, or to other locations with out having to rent out a slip bike. “Yeah well, I wasn’t the one on duty when the incident occurred, so it’s not my fault,” He tried to joke with his very dry wit as the image of a girl in her late teens appeared on the screen. She was dressed in military fatigues with her long blonde hair tied back, her eyes betrayed the exhaustion she was trying to hide from him. “Don’t feel bad about it Marie, there is nothing we can do now,” He smiled calling his second in command by the one name that no one else could call her.
With a jolt and a small shake the pod signaled that it had entered and exited slip string. “I have this thing, brief me when I get back,” He added before cutting the channel and releasing the top half of the vehicle he was in. The surroundings around him had changed dramatically. What once was a rocky field was now a dark basement who’s only light came from the glow of the buttons of the elevator on the far left side of the room. Michael scooped up the papers needed in his left hand along with the book and with one smooth motion he slid out of the capsule and walked with a quick stride right to the elevator.
“You’re late today,” The usual agent greeted him as the elevator opened, Michael didn’t respond and road the elevator in silence where it opened to a military style briefing room with a large table filled with chiefs and security officers from all the military branches of the government.
“Sorry for being late,” Michael replied both to the agent and the people in the room. He didn’t expect a reply, as he sat down at his seat at the far end of the table, only to have to stand again as the President walked in.
“Keep your seats,” The President ordered, yet no one ever followed it. Everyone stood when the President entered the room no matter what he said after he entered. Michael sat back down and enjoyed the softness of the seat, the plush feel against his back that he wasn’t able to get out of his chair at the base. He closed his eyes and relaxed as the other officers began their national security briefing. Millions of thoughts were spinning through his head, shipping lists to the other universes, where he was going to get more teams when the ones this year graduated, including himself. And most importantly of all, where three of his men had been taken, and what did the people that took them want with them.
“Something happened last night in…Oklahoma?” The President asked flipping the page in his report. The question snapped Michael back into reality and caught him a bit unprepared, he used the few seconds it took him to face the President to collect his thoughts and prepare what he was about to say next.
“We believe three agents have been captured, we also have a Situation Black.” He stated meeting the gaze of the President before turning away to glance back at his notes.
“Situation Black?” The President questioned his eyebrow raised in an expression of false curiosity. The President knew what a Situation Black was, he just wanted to test Michael and see if he had the guts to say what he believed needed to be done, or if he would back down in front of him.
“Yes, a possible invasion due to a unauthorized slip string event, my recommendation would be to call all of our agents back from off universal travel, and shut down all slip string activity on Earth until these people are found.” He stated laying out a quite bold and almost impossible suggestion since it would mean the cooperation of several governments at the exact same time.
The President looked quite taken aback by the suggestion, there was a bit of murmuring in the room while the President considered what to say. “Sir, with all due respect it would help us catch these guys or at least we could find where they are going next, and if they are here to plant say a bomb then it may help us find the location of the bomb.” Michael added trying to gain some if any leverage with his suggestion.
“You…” The President began his voice strong yet with out any hint of emotion to betray what he was going to say next. Michael had learned along time ago not to try and guess what a politician was going to say before he would say it, politicians were trained to mask their intentions so it was best to just wait them out. “You, cannot believe that we could do something like this, Russia is planning a off universal colony, and doing this would set them back for months, not to mention several other reasons that you know full well of.”
“Bring back all of your agents, and shut down all slip string travel inside the United States, other than that I need more evidence of something before I bring this in front of the other nations,” The President added before shutting his briefing folder and walking out of the room with out saying anything else.
“Damn it!” Michael roared tossing the book across the room; Marie glanced back at it from over her shoulder before turning back to Michael. She could only guess that his meeting a few hours before with the President, did not end well. “How the hell can we expect to do anything when all they have to do is leave the country and slip string out there?” He asked in his fit of rage.
“You’re not expected to go round and round with the President,” Marie said softly trying to calm him a bit. Michael tensed up a bit at the sound of his own failure, she knew he could get angry like this and as long as she kept everyone else from seeing him this way, then everything would be fine. “Maybe we can talk to some of the Congressmen that know about this program, see if they can talk to the President.”
“Well, lets call everyone in and contact the agencies in Britain, France, and Japan and get as many international agents here as possible, we can even ask the Polymorphs to help,” Marie suggested, mentioning the Polymorphs, a race of species that was able to assume the shape of any person. CBI used them to impersonate their agents while they were gone on assignments so that parents would not get suspicious.
Marie slid down into the chair across from Michael’s desk as he contemplated the suggestion. The exhaustion of the last day was beginning to take a stress on her body, and the one thing she longed for right now was to get off work and to get some sleep in a bunk before going back home for the weekend. “Marie..” Michael sighed rubbing his temple as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re going to be sitting in my seat in a few months, so where do you think these guys would go?”
Marie pondered the thought for a minute before answering. “My guess would be the weapons lab in Dallas, the research lab in New York, and the training facility in Las Angeles really don’t seem like high value targets, or targets that they could reach quickly from Oklahoma,” She stated, Michael seemed to take in the suggestion and nodded quietly as she spoke.
“Make the call,” He sighed. Marie slowly stood up, her legs aching in pain and fatigue. “Wait, I’ll make it, just go and get some sleep,” Marie smiled silently as the weight of command was lifted off her shoulders and trusted upon the shoulders of her friend.
She reached the door and took the handle, turning it slowly when he spoke up one last time. “Marie, they’re not going to Dallas.” Marie turned a second to face him knowing just like him that Dallas only had weapons that were also in development on twenty different planets, which were less guarded and less of a hassle to get into.
“No, they’re not,” She agreed, both of them stood there a few seconds, neither wanting to admit that they had no idea what to do or where to send the teams. Neither wanted to acknowledge that this was about to get very bloody, and before the week’s end several parents would have to be informed that their son or daughter had died.
“We’ll send the teams to Dallas, maybe we’ll get lucky and these guys are idiots,” His voice trailed off near the end as he reached for the phone. Marie finished the twist on the doorknob to open it and stepped outside. As she walked away from the office, she could hear Michael begin to give out the orders over the phone. Exhaustion called to her from everywhere in her body as she continued to walk away from his office and toward her bunk. “Call everyone back, we’re relocating all the teams to Dallas”
Children's Bureau of Investigation: CBI (PG-13)
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