Agent Nine and the Killer Beats

  Chapter Four

  The gang of agents, still wore their classy suits, as they tried to sell ecstasy to hippies on planet Katy Perry. They stood outside the concert entrance and monitored everyone who walked in. A group of teenagers walked up to Nine.

  "We'd like 20 pills please." One of the teenagers said and handed over a twenty.

  "Beat it kid!" Nine waved him away.

  "Alright, here's a hundred." the kid handed him a hundred dollar bill.

  "Look kid, we're here undercover, so beat it." Nine told him again.

  "You're not suppose to tell them that." Natalie kicked Nine.

  "Oh right! Here kid." Nine handed 20 pills to the kid and took his hundred dollar bill.

  "You're a nark!" the kid shouted.

  "No way man! I'm an elegant ecstasy dealer, and if you don't shut up I'll arrest you." Nine waved a fist at the kid.

  "Whatever man." The kid walked away shaking his head.

  "PLUR!" Six shouted after him.

  "PLUR is so 2000!" the kid shouted back to Six.

  "Stupid kids." Six pointed at the kid with his thumb and looked at Natalie.

  "We have to sneak into the tent where LiveKitty and Krewe are to steal their set." Nine whispered. "Six, you'll go first."

  "Sure, might as well." Six nodded.

  The three agents entered the concert through the main gates. Apparently the security guards were too busy searching through hippie's backpacks to even notice the heavily armed agents, carrying bags full of drugs, walking in. Even though some kids pointed at them directly, the security guards didn't even bother. They knew not to trust kids. Kids were always up to no good.

  The three agents walked to the main tent and stood outside it. A dj walked up to Six and smiled at him.

  "You guys got the hook ups?" the stranger asked Six.

  "And downs!" Six replied.

  "That's okay, I already have alcohol for downs. I hear you've got vowels?" the dj asked.

  "5 bucks a pop." Six replied. "How many do you want?"

  "I only need one." the dj replied. "Come with me." he waved Six to come inside the tent, leaving Nine and Natalie behind.

  Six came out of the tent a few minutes later.

  "Did you get it?" asked Natalie.

  "Get what?" Six asked. "Oh, here's the 5 bucks." he then handed a bill to Natalie.

  "No you idiot!" she slapped him. "The set!"

  "Oh crap!" Six replied.

  "Too late!" Nine shouted and pointed to the stage. Natalie and Six looked up to see LiveKitty and Krewe taking over. They set up their set and were about to play their killer beats, totally ready to collaborate.

  "Welcome ladies and gentleman, friendly mystical creatures from other planets, and aspiring artists from other dimensions." LiveKitty announced. "Tonight we have a special plug with Krewe. We've been collaborating. You're all in for a treat. We've got the rarest, the unheard, the never before played set in the galaxy."

  The whole crowd cheered and fireworks began flickering in the background.

  "Are you all ready for the most spectacular, the crazy, the revolutionary, and witness history?" LiveKitty asked the crowd that immediately went wild.

  "What are we going to do?" Six asked Nine. "We have to stop him!"

  Natalie ran to pull the plug and put a few bullets in it. The stage electricity went out automatically, shutting down all sound, all the lights, the jumbo screen, and immediately, everything went dark, except for the fireworks that were still flickering in the background.

  "What gives?" LiveKitty shouted into his unplugged microphone.

  Natalie jumped on the stage and shot LiveKitty, again.

  "Right in the same spot too." Nine pointed out.

  Natalie grabbed a laptop from the mix board and ran off the stage. A few moments later the lights came back on and a stage crew got electrocuted.

  "Well shit!" LiveKitty shouted. "Somebody stole my killer beats!"

  "And you got shot!" the pink haired girl from Krewe pointed to his gun wound.

  "That's the least of my 99 problems." LiveKitty told her.

  Natalie ran past Six and Nine and they followed her out the concert.

  "We've got to destroy these beats!" she shouted.

  "Not so fast!" a voice interrupted their running. The three agents stopped and froze on the spot. Nine saw a superficial, pretty, blond cheerleader standing in front of them. She held her hand up to stop them, like Sugar Girls did in that Stop Sometime Later music video. She was fit and very aggressive, she was being very aggressive, being, being, aggressive.

  "One, two, three. Give the beats to me. Four, five, six. Or you'll receive some kicks." she shouted in a cheer and more superficial cheerleaders appeared from the shadows and stood behind her. They must all belonged to some hippie club. Nine thought to himself.

  "Or what?" Natalie held the laptop over her head.

  At that moment, the captain of the cheerleading team did a gymnastic move and leaped over Natalie snatching the laptop.

  "Y'all don't have any clearance on this planet." she told them. "KP TEAM, let's bounce." she did a few flips and flipped away from the agents. Her team followed her, doing flips, jumping jacks, and robot moves.

  "Well that sucked!" Natalie shouted at them.

  "What?" the cheerleader shouted back. "We practice every day!" she appeared to be running back.

  Natalie chickened out and started running away. The agents followed her. The three ran to Nine's ship and jumped into it. Nine pushed the camouflage button and hovered slightly above the ground.

  "What the hell was that?" Nine asked.

  "I don't know, did we all take ecstasy at one point?" Natalie replied in confusion.

  "I didn't." Nine told her.

  "I thought we had to take one, you know, to be more like the dealers." Six explained. "Good god, so I didn't imagine that cheer."

  "No, we all saw it. Who are those girls, and boys?" Natalie started searching online on Nine's ship's dashboard but came up with nothing. She then dialed Strawberry to get some straight up answers.

  "Sup kids?" Strawberry replied. She appeared to be at her computer this time.

  "Christine, a bunch of cheerleaders just stole our secret files. Who are they?" Natalie asked.

  "Planet Katy Perry's authority figures are cheerleaders." Strawberry replied. "I thought you guys knew that. Cheerleaders work for the government."

  "Planet Katy Perry's politicians are made up of cheerleaders? Are laws and bills written in cheer?" Nine asked Strawberry.

  "Yes. Their cheers are quite good also. You should've seen most of their competitions. These girls are amazing!" Strawberry added.

  "So how do we get the musical, ever so deadly, set back?" Natalie asked.

  "You will have to sneak into their main headquarters." Strawberry told her team. "Their main government office is a high school. You'll have to attend there as students."

  "This planet is unbelievable. First we are undercover as couriers, then djs, then ecstasy dealers, now students. What's next, ghosts?" Six was baffled.

  "Whatever is necessary." Natalie spoke on Strawberry's behalf.

  "You guys are the laughing stock of the agent's town. We have to get our reputation back. We need more missions, we've got bills to pay, put food on the table, guns to purchase. All three of you have to complete this mission tastefully or we'll be losing business." Strawberry added.

  "So we'll go as ghosts." Six nodded.

  "High school students. Stop popping that ecstasy. Let's plan this whole thing out." Natalie corrected Six and turned to the blackboard that was located at the back of the ship.

  "I'm with you." Nine supported Natalie.

  "We will attend this high school as students and attend classes. We have to try and get these cheerleaders to reveal where they keep their secret files." Natalie started drawing out a plan. "Most likely they will be called permanent records, but I'm just specul
ating at this point. We will stage a high school dance in the hallway. At the dance, Six will spike their punch and get the captain of the cheerleading squad drunk. He will get her to talk by pointing out her flaws and making fun of her poor body image. Maybe make a joke about their cheer, I don't know, I won't be there. I'll be snooping around the principal's office and going through their files."

  "Great idea." Nine nodded.

  "I do like their captain." Six smiled at Natalie. "I like this plan."

  "Right." Natalie continued. "We will register tomorrow. Christine can you please send over our transcripts to Planet Katy Perry High School?"

  "I'm on it." Strawberry replied and started working on the team's paperwork.

  "I will apply to be a cheerleader as well." Natalie told Nine and Six who burst out laughing.

  "With those thunder thighs?" Nine pointed out.

  "I'm sexy!" Natalie defended herself.

  "I'll have you all registered in that high school by tomorrow." Strawberry told her team. "I suggest you all stay over at White Horse motel near by. Take a shower and get some sleep."

  "Good idea, I do need a break." Six yawned.

  Nine started up his ship. Strawberry sent them White Horse motel address and Nine took his ship over to that location. The motel was a standard four star looking motel. Since the team only stayed there for one night, they didn't mind sharing the room together. They knew it wasn't a popular spot so they felt quite safe and confident they won't be caught.

  When the three walked into their room they noticed only one king size bed. All three sat on the floor, looking defeated, and Six pulled out a flask from his jacket.

  "I seriously think you've got a drinking problem." Natalie pointed to the flask.

  "I'm still young." Six defended himself. "I know when I'll reach your age I'll stop drinking. It won't be as fun anymore." he took a whisk.

  "Pass it over." Natalie grabbed the flask from Six's hand and took a sip herself. "Wow! This stuff is strong. Here." She passed it to Nine who took a whisk.

  "See. We're all in it for the money. We work way too hard not have fun." Six pointed out to his team. "Risking our lives on a daily basis, not knowing if we'll be alive tomorrow. We have to say we lived, at least for a moment, in that moment we did. We have to save, savor, and enjoy the little things."

  "They are the little things aren't they. Hard to say you lived when all you've done was serve temporarily until someone else took over your job." Natalie agreed.

  Nine took another sip from the flask before passing out on the floor.

  "I call bed!" Natalie got up from the floor and jumped on the bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Six got up and walked to the window of the hotel suite. He leaned on the window sill and looked out into the distance. All he could see, of course, was an airport. Watching planes land and take off, he slowly finished the beverage in his flask. He wondered about his mission and felt disappointed. He didn't mean to fail but it happens. After he felt more tipsy he sat down on a chair near the night stand and fell asleep.