Under Cover Cinderella - S01 E07

Story 2 years ago

Under Cover Cinderella - S01 E07

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 7

Another Attack

The next morning, Jade slowly made her way to Cognito’s office and rapped on the door “Sir?”

“What?” Cognito answered gruffly.

“Can I come in?”

“If you open the door.”

Jade let out a huff of air. He wasn’t having a good day.

She slowly pushed the door open “I… just wanted to apologize for shouting last night. It was a long day… and night.”

“Don’t worry, Jade.” Cognito said flatly “I know you well enough. Are you considering laying off the case?”

“Are you kidding!?” Jade exclaimed “Never! It’s too close to Henry’s coronation to stop now.”

For the first time since she’d entered, the Director looked up at her, an eyebrow raised.

She cringed as she realized her slip “I meant… the Prince.”

“I needed to talk to you about the Prince.” Cognito said as he stood from his seat “Sit.”

Jade obeyed and watched as the man picked up a newspaper from the top of his filing cabinet.

“Your job has just gotten a bit more difficult.” Cognito continued “You have more than one person to look out for.” he slapped the newspaper down.

Jade looked down at the paper and what she saw made her heart jumped into her throat.

Prince Henry Announces Engagement to

Childhood Sweetheart, Princess Annabel.

“Uh…” Jade shook her head “When… did this happen?”

“This morning.” Cognito answered, noticing her strange behavior.

“This morning?” Jade squeaked. She shook her head slowly “Are you sure?”

The director’s eyebrows raised “It’s sitting under your nose, Jade.”

She took a deep breath then released it slowly “I’m… on it. One hundred percent.” she stood from her seat, her eyes glued to the newspaper as if she expected it to change “I’d better go… get ready for the ball… tonight.” she slowly turned and walked from the room, her mind in a fog.

Agent Jones watched as she passed “What is up with her?” she mumbled, then she followed the girl to her room.

Not knowing she had a follower, Jade walked into her room and fell onto her bed.

Henry was engaged? This morning?

The feeling of betrayal was so strong it almost made her want to just curl up and stay there. But her detective side kicked in and the desire to hurry up and complete the mission

“Jade?” Agent Jones said gently “Are you alright?”

The girl looked over at her and sighed “Yeah. I guess.” she shook her head “How do you tell someone they were stupid without ruining their self-esteem?”

Miriam Jones chuckled “Depends on who you’re trying to tell. You or the Prince?”

“Me.” Jade answered “How is it that no matter how hard to try, the simplest things can break down the wall you worked so hard to build?”

“You fell for him, didn’t you?”

“I tried not to!” Jade groaned in frustration “It just happened! And… he’s so different from what I imaged, He just acts like a normal guy. Sometimes, it almost seems as if he forgets he’s the prince. He’s funny. He’s sweet…”

“And you got it bad.” Jones mumbled “Jade, you’re not going to pull out of the case, are you?”

“No. No no no.” She sat up and pushed her bangs out of her face “I started this case and I’m going to end it… soon.”

Agent Jones smiled and nodded in satisfaction “You are an amazing detective. You can do it.”

“Thanks.” Jade smiled slightly “Now, I have to go get ready for that ball tonight, My guess, lunatics are on the guest list.”

“Be sure you’re ready.” Prince Henry said as he fixed his suit “The Coronation is the day after tomorrow, so they’re going to stop at nothing to succeed this time.”

“I know.” The blond haired Ninja answered with a slight smile as he leaned against the wall “I’ll be right in the middle of the ballroom.” then he chuckled “But if that one Agent shows up I may not have to fight.”

Prince Henry shrugged “True. But still be ready. The Double-A is getting a little desperate and we’ve already lost too many agents as it is.”

“I know, Sir. I’ll be ready.”

The Prince smiled as he patted the other young man’s shoulder “I know you will, Spear. Just be careful.”

Spear nodded as he straightened the collar of his suit “I will.”

As the ballroom began to fill up with people, Prince Henry stood off to the side searching for one person. When she finally walked through the doors, he smiled and made his way over to her “Hello, Hannah.”

Jade spun around “Your Highness.” she said with a curtsy.

Henry’s eyebrows rose “Wha… Hi. How are you?”

“I’m… okay.” Jade managed a small smile “Uh… what about you?”

“Fair.” He stared at her curiously. Why was she acting so strange? Maybe she was still a bit nervous from the attack last night. Not that he could blame her. But she wasn’t acting nervous or scared. She seemed upset about something.

“So…” she finally ventured “I heard about your… engagement.”

“Engagement?” Henry’s eyebrows rose “Oh… ye-ah. I guess… I am.” he shook his head slightly “I think.”

Jade couldn’t help but smile “You mean you don’t know if you are or not? According to the paper it’s your childhood sweetheart, Princess Annabel.”

Henry’s eyes suddenly widened and his mouth formed an ‘O’ “That engagement.”

Jade cocked her head. That was definitely odd.

Henry chuckled nervously “Would you care to dance, Hannah?”

“But your Fiancee.”

“Is not here.” he pasted on a smile “Please.” he held his hand out to her, his eyes slightly pleading.

“Alright.” she finally sighed, then she slipped her hand into his.

A slight smile crossed his face as he led her to the floor.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the starting position, trying not to look up into his eyes.

As the music started, they immediately fell into step with each other.

Henry watched her as she stared off to the side, avoiding looking into his face.

“Hannah.” he said gently.

She barely glanced at him “Hm?”

“I wanted to tell you something.”

This time she looked up at him, her lavender eyes slightly sad. When she didn’t say anything, he continued “These past few days have been some of the best times of my life… with you. And I…”

He was cut off as several of the ballroom windows shattered. Glass flew across the floor as several people screamed and scattered.

The eight men from the previous night leapt through the windows into the room.

Henry pushed Jade behind him, then she quickly backed up to the wall “Cognito.” she said urgently into her earpiece “Agents! Now!” but there was no answer “Cognito!” she hissed.

But the Director still didn’t answer “That’s it. He’s dead.”

She saw an elderly man grab Henry’s arm and lead him towards the exit.

She could tell that the man wasn’t taking him away to hurt him but to protect him “At least someone’s on top of the game.” then she quickly slipped away.

“Prince Henry!” Double-A shouted, his voice echoing around the room “Where is he?”

The people cowered slightly, all mumbling that they didn’t know.

“Come out!” the man continued to shout “NOW!”

At that exact moment, two figures dropped to the floor side by side. One Jade, the other the Ninja.

They glanced at each other surprised for a second but quickly turned their to the group in front of them.

Double-A’s eyebrows were raised as he scrutinized the pair who happened to be dressed very similar. He raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers. His men immediately ran towards the two.

Without waiting a moment longer, Jade prang forward and intercepted some of them while Spear took the rest, not including Double-A who was simply watching.

Spear grabbed one of the men by his shirt front and hurled him across the room as Jade leapt into the air, her foot kicking two of the mens’ jaws.

The people standing around the ballroom watched in amazement as the two disguised people fought the attackers.

Spear flipped one onto the floor the spun around to take another one, but was halted as Jade suddenly slammed into him “Whoa!” he grabbed her elbows to steady both of them.

“Sorry.” Jade stammered with a nervous smile.

He chuckled slightly, his aqua colored eyes sparking with amusement “It’s expected when you’re fighting.”

Jade blinked “Fighting. Right.” then she spun around and laid a punch into one of the men who came running up.

Throughout the fight, she’d tried several times to get a hold of her Director. But there had been no success.

Double-A had been watching the whole time, and it soon became clear that there was no may his men were going to get past the agents “Go!” he shouted.

His men ran for the exits, but Spear dropped in front of them “I think not.” he said, his eyes narrowing.

No matter where they ran, the ninja was always jumping in their way.

Jade couldn’t help the small smile that crept across her face as she watched the boy run and jump all over the room “He’s kind of cute. Despite the fact you can’t see his face.”

The only thing you could see of him was his eyes and the tips of his blond hair.

Double-A’s ire flew and he clenched his fist. He knew a good agent’s weakness. And it was obvious that that boy was a good agent.

He spun around, and before anyone could blink, he grabbed Jade’s shoulders.

Jade winced at the grip “Let me go!” she hissed. She tried stomping her heel down on his foot, but like the night before, it did no good.

“You’re in my way!” Double-A shouted. His grip on Jade’s shoulder’s tightened, then he slammed her into the wall as hard as he could.

Jade’s head crashed into the stone wall, then she sank to the floor.

Spear spun around, his eyes wide “Oh no.” he ran over to where the girl was laying unconscious.

Double-A laughed “Pathetic!” then he and his men jumped out the windows and were gone.

“Hey.” Spear said as he gently shook Jade’s shoulders “Wake up.”

Jade groaned slightly.

“Come on. Speak.” He was seriously having to resist the urge to remove the hood and mask to see who the girl really was. But he had a feeling that would be a bad idea.

Jade’s eyes slowly fluttered open and she stared up at him “Where’d they go?” she groaned as she started to sit up.

Spear put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving “They left. Are you alright?”

Jade slid her hand to the back of her head and winced “Yeah. Just bruised.” this time, Spear allowed her to sit up “Thank goodness my hair was in a bun.” she chuckled wryly.

Spear’s eyes lit up and he stood to his feet “Here.” he held his hand down to her. She accepted it and was slowly pulled up “You’re a good fighter.” he commented.

Jade smiled as she rubbed the back of her head again “So are you.” she glanced up at him “I… should go.”

“Are you sure it’s safe for you to go alone?”

“They’ve done their damage.” Jade shook her head as her eyes began to burn with anger “They had better not try anything.” she blew out a breath “Thank you.” then she walked out the exit.

Spear stared after her. Why did she look so familiar? He shook his head then ran from the room.

Jade reentered the ballroom, redressed in the long purple ballgown, about the time Henry entered from the other side.

When he spotted her, he immediately ran to her side “Are you alright?” he asked “I’m afraid I had to leave. Where were you?”

“I made a quick escape to the ladies.” Jade answered with a grin “Not even criminals are brave enough to enter that territory.”

Henry laughed with relief “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

Jade smiled “I’m glad you think I wasn’t hurt.” she thought.

Henry bowed “May I?”

“I suppose.” Jade nodded slightly. Boy how she would love to go home and lay down!

When Jade reached the base, she fell onto her bed. The Headache was almost more than she could bear.

She had visited the Base’s doctor just to make sure there was no real damage. He had assured her that there was none, just a large bruise that would heal.

“Double-A.” She whispered to herself “He has got a grip!” she stared at the ceiling as she rethought the past few days, ever since she’d started the mission.

Just then, a thought struck her “Wait a minute.” she jumped out of her bed and ran down the hall.

There weren’t many agents around so she ran straight to her destination. The computer room.

The one room in the entire base that was ‘Off Limits’ to her: The computer room.

She tried the door knob but of course, it was locked.

“Alright.” she muttered as she pulled a bobby pin from her hair. Ten seconds later the knob was unlocked. Then, she turned her attention to the password box “Can nothing be easy?” with a shake of her head she pried off the plastic covering till she could see the wires inside “Okay. Where’s the red wire?” she quickly grabbed the wire and broke it, being sure not to touch the ends. After breaking a couple of other wires and connecting them to other places, the door came open “And I thought this was going to be hard.” she straightened up and dusted her hands off on her skirt “Bad when an Agency’s Computer Room is as easy to break into as a Federal Prison.” she quickly slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

She quickly booted up the systems, hacking through the passwords as they came up. Finally, she gained access to the files.

She located the pictures that had been taken with her earring/cameras and started leafing through them, scanning each one carefully. When she got to the ones after she met Henry, she noticed a figure looking in a window.

She zoomed in the picture till she could make out the face “No way.” she quickly leafed through the others, spotting the same person in nearly all of them. He was either standing in the shadows, looking in a window, or peeking from behind a doorway.

“I don’t believe this.” She whispered to herself. Just then, her attention was drawn to a smaller screen to her left where a red blinking dot was. She stared at it for a long moment.

It looked like a tracker, but it wasn’t moving. After several seconds she realized that it was right where she was.

She looked down at the purple necklace that was hanging around her neck. With a vicious yank, she tore it off “I guess we’ll find out.”

She dropped it onto the floor then brought the heel of her shoe down as hard as she could on top of it.

The necklace shattered into a million pieces and the red light on the screen went out.

Jade sat down in a chair and shook her head as she relooked at the picture of the person hiding near the ballroom “Cognito.”