They unchained him and James fell to the ground, not having the strength enough to stand for almost a full minute.  Then a newly freed Agent Lamprey smiled to himself as he rubbed the feeling back into his wrists.  He had successfully deluded half a dozen Legionnaires by employing his seductive mesmeric powers...caused them to do his bidding. 

Then, before his captors knew what was happening, he attacked with a fury--bestowing upon them a painful demonstration on what an Agent could do employing physical prowess alone.  Still there were just too many of them and eventually he was viciously struck from behind with a baton, causing him to fall and hit his head on the floor. Before he could fully regain his bearings, one of the guards warned him that if he didn't give up the fight, Agent Avalanche, still a prisoner in the other bikram room, would be harmed.

He was then unceremoniously dragged into the other room so that he could watch the torture of the raven-haired agent who was still hanging--suspended from chains around his wrists that were attached to rungs in the ceiling. 

"Before we get started, I want the both of you to hear something."  A.C.E. operative Thursday Harper, who anxiously sought the death of any W.A.V.E. operative he could get his hands on, played a tape on a little hand-held recorder.  It was a tape that, according to him, had been recorded aboard the Boeing 747 that carried several of his fellow Legionnaires to Mazatlan Mexico on a mission.  The six minute tape was punctuated by the voices of young women saying they didn't want to die, cries of "No, no, no!" and "Oh, God!" and other women barking commands and making note of the fact that they themselves would escape the plane with parachutes while the terrified operatives would go down with the 747. 

Also on the tape one could hear A.C.E. operative Alma Cortez scream, "Don't shoot!" in Spanish. 

Then gunshots.  Videotape footage revealed that at this point, the gunshot-riddled plane began to plunge to the ground.  Operatives Alma Cortez and Muriel McPherson were already dead, riddled by high-caliber bullets.  Despite being shot, A.C.E. mercenary Trentham Ebersol managed to steer the plane into a ravine. Operatives Ebersol, June Collins and the Collins' twin brother, Jane, survived.

The issue of the plane's downing has festered ever since it occurred. In the mind of A.C.E.'s founder, it was an event stemming from his former organization's jealousy and suspicion towards the new assemblage he'd created.  In other words, Bad Karma outright accused the W.A.V.E. of not only covering up their involvement in the attack that killed two of his operatives, but also of being the primary attackers. 

"No one at your man-ruled 'W.A.V.E.' has ever admitted to this," Thursday, who also went by the alias The Tormentor, practically spat.  He glared hatefully at Agent Avalanche. "But now one or both of you is going to come clean."

"Agent Lamprey ..." Karl said, glancing sideways at his fellow agent.  And that's all he said--knowing that the alluring blond would understand.

But what Agent Lamprey truly began to understand is that the A.C.E. Legionnaires intended to torture Agent Avalanche until one or both of them confessed to the W.A.V.E.'s involvement in the attack that had killed two of their operatives. 

And in truth the W.A.V.E. had been involved, but only because the A.C.E. operatives had been assigned the task of cold-bloodedly slaughtering W.A.V.E. members located in Mazatlan and Acapulco.  The mission had been a successful preemptive strike.  The only problem was that while there seemed to be plenty of evidence that the W.A.V.E. had carried out the attack against A.C.E., there was skant substantiation that A.C.E. had ordered a hit on W.A.V.E. operatives in Mexico. 

"I want to hear one of you bitches admit, with your own mouths, that The W.A.V.E. is responsible for the deaths of Cortez and McPherson." Said the man often called The Tormentor.  

Agent Lamprey panicked, knowing that if he used his powers again, the Legionnaires would kill him and Agent Avalanche outright.   What could he do?  Merely stand by and watch helplessly as the A.C.E. operatives pitilessly tortured Karl?

Fortunately the decision to watch or not watch was taken out of his hands as two Legionnaires dragged him back towards the separate bikram room.  Meanwhile vicious Thursday "The Tormentor" Harper went for Karl's ribs at first, then abruptly switched up to assailing his exposed underarms. Agent Avalanche's screams of laughter filled the entire floor. Thursday continually jabbed at the alluring dark-haired man's ticklish points causing the adroit agent to spasm as if he were being electrocuted. 

And just when The Tormentor felt he had the twenty-four-year-old completely at his mercy, Karl ... with his arms still suspended in the metal chains that kept them up above his head... quickly wrapped his legs around The Tormentor's neck.  He then squeezed them together, crushing his tormentor's neck with as much strength as his tickle-weakened body could muster. The Tormentor grabbed at his legs to pry them apart and tried to wrench his head free. When he finally managed to do so, it was clear that he didn't care if Agent Avalanche or Agent Lamprey confessed to anything.  He wanted revenge, plain and simple. 

He seized Agent Avalanche's feet, placed his ankles in a headlock and savagely tickle-assaulted Karl's soles with his nails. He ordered the agent to confess to the W.A.V.E.'s crimes or literally die laughing.  Karl, howling with laughter and squirming spasmodically, admitted to nothing. Thursday used his hand to spider his fingers up the dark-haired man's ribs to his armpits. And Agent Avalanche was totally unprepared for the moment when Thursday placed his mouth to his flat stomach and blew raspberries!   And he did this while continuing to tickle his ribs! Squealing like an animal, the raven-haired agent twisted his body away from Thursday's raspberry blowing mouth, but all he managed to do was reposition himself directly onto his captive's ticking fingers. 

Thursday danced his fingers up Karl's ribcage to his armpits and tickled there for several minutes.  He followed this up by assailing the agent's ribs again--poking, prodding and digging his fingers into and in between them. The now flush-faced dark-haired captive teetered on the edge of fainting when The Tormentor halted his tickle assault and ordered him once again to confess to the W.A.V.E.'s crimes--to admit that the organization had been responsible for the attack on the A.C.E. operatives who had been bound for Mexico. 

Agent Avalanche admitted nothing. 

"Arrrgggggghh!" Thursday screamed in rage and frustration, then he attacked Karl's ribs full force with both hands.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEE!" Agent Avalanche shrieked and went into another bout of hysterical laughter. It was all he could do.  With his arms suspended helplessly above his head and his body already weakened from what he'd endured, the raven-haired captive could barely move...and he certainly couldn't escape even if he decided to forgo his orders and employ the use of his powers.   He jerked his extraordinary body about and howled with laugher. The Tormentor continued to torture his ribs--even sliding his hands up to the dark-haired agent's sensitive armpits again.  He attacked those armpits with extra verve, for he knew the ticklish sensations were even more excruciating there. Tears coursed down Karl's face and he found that he was barely able to get breath into his lungs as his body convulsed madly with the tickle torture.  

Then Thursday suddenly stopped--paused just long enough to allow Agent Avalanche to think he was receiving a rest period.

Then he tickle-attacked him all over again!

And Agent Lamprey heard his fellow agent's screams as two A.C.E. operatives dragged down the hallway and back towards the other bikram room.  He had been fighting them every step of the way, putting up a Herculean effort to keep his toned captors from separating him from his fellow agent.  But now they'd summoned reinforcements and even more Legionnaires had their hands on him--all but forcibly carrying him towards the other bikram room.  This prompted James to once again employ the use of his powers ... and to once again defy the order given to his by the higher-ups in the W.A.V.E.. 

His powers allowed the Legionnaires dragging him to become inexplicably distracted by his alluring handsomeness almost instantaneously.  Soon they trusted him completely and were unconsciously following his commands.  He merely suggested to them that they didn't have to restrain him--that they could trust him to go along peacefully.  But no sooner had they taken their hands off him, he "convinced" one to lend him a firearms and to aid him in freeing his fellow Agent. 

The agent and the entranced Legionnaire made their way into the other bikram room, passing other confused A.C.E. Legionnaires en route.  . 

Agent Lamprey' blue eyes were focused as he wordlessly aimed his borrowed .32 caliber semi-automatic pistol. He shot the first Legionnaire to run towards him through the chest and head, then both he and his mesmerized A.C.E. accomplice fired again and again, taking out half of the Legionnaires in the room.  He wondered why his powers seemed double their normal strength when he used them on the A.C.E. operatives.  There had to be something in the mental training the Legionnaires received that made them more susceptible to his psionic seductiveness.   He wished he had time to learn just what that was.  As it was, he had barely enough time to convince a A.C.E. operative to tell him where the organization stored their explosives. 

He physically took out the rest of the attacking A.C.E. operatives with a number of moves that felt good to his trained muscles.  As much as he bitched about having to learn the martial art known as Kwanmukan (The realization of the essential) it was a skill that was already serving him well. 

He ran into the other bikram room at top speed. 

Seeing Thursday tickle-torturing Agent Avalanche ... and apparently so involved in this torture that he was oblivious to all else around him ... James took aim and emptied the entire clip into the tormenting bitch's back.  And he kept on pulling the trigger even after The Tormentor lay still and bloodied upon the room's floor. 

Then James focused his attention on Agent Avalanche, who was still dangling with his arms chained above his head.

"Karl!"

The dark-haired agent managed to weakly raise his head

"They ... they say never envy a person unless you're willing to ... to ... swap identities with them," Karl Sutton managed to gasp out as his eyes grew fixed right before Agent Lamprey' eyes. "Well now you'll have to swap with me.  You're the best of the best at the W.A.V.E. now..."

"But why?" James asked, feeling the hot sting of tears in his eyes as he frantically tried to release the dying agent from the metal fetters that still held his dangling body.   

"Why didn't you use your powers?" 

For a brief moment life returned to Agent Avalanche's dark eyes. And an incredulous look appeared on his face. "Why?  Because we were ordered not to!  Because if I had used them, A.C.E. would have the precise intel that the W.A.V.E. has been trying so desperately to prevent them from obtaining!"

James said nothing, knowing that he had gone against the top brass' command and had used his powers--thus he'd failed the mission on two counts. He wondered if a Legionnaire had already noted, logged and transferred data concerning him to the various other A.C.E. cells located throughout the world.  He could barely look Karl in the eye when he asked, "Well, why didn't you confess about our involvement in the A.C.E. Boeing attack?  They knew it was true ... we know it was true.  What did it matter if you admitted it or not?"

Karl struggled to speak.  It was clear that he was growing increasingly weaker.  What had Thursday done to him?   "Because ... because I knew they'd kill you in a hot second once they had that admission.  Didn't you see the Legionnaire holding the recorder?  Once ...  they had a confession on record, our usefulness would have been zero.  You're too valuable to the W.A.V.E. to die over that shit.  Plus ... well ...  it was hard for me to get used to the fact that you were no longer my primary responsibility.  And ...because... because..."

He opened his dark eyes wider and looked at James and moved his lips as if to say "I love you," and with that he was gone.

Agent Lamprey wanted to scream, but realized that he still had a chance to partially complete his mission.  After planting and arming the explosives he'd located (thanks to the info extracted from the mesmerized A.C.E. Legionnaire) he bid his raven-haired fellow agent a tearful and heartfelt farewell.

He then escaped the building just as it exploded behind him.

***

When Agent Lamprey finished recounting his story, he had nearly forgotten that he had been recounting it to Agent Deadline.  But when his mind returned to the present and he looked at Katie, he was startled to find the bubbly blonde's face nearly drained of color.

James didn't know how the nineteen-year-old would respond to his tale once he finally found words to speak. And the younger man remained silent for an awkwardly long while. Then, quite suddenly, James felt Agent Deadline press close to him in a brief hug.  A very brief hug because he knew this was all the comforting someone like Agent Lamprey would accept. 

"Mind-reading is a power I don't possess," James said, staring intently at Katie.  "But to be totally unaware that Agent Deadline...Katie...truly did have my best interest at heart made me question my instincts ... my ability to read people.  I am well aware that new agents shouldn't be coddled, but I'm just as aware that communication is vital for a good relationship at the W.A.V.E..  And building good relationships with other agents requires that you understand their ideas and opinions--especially those that you disagree with. Staying open to contrary opinions is the spark for a relationship of trust which is critical to the kind of partnership where you place your lives in each other's hands." 

Agent Deadline released a breath he didn't know he was holding. The story was indeed a "bummer", but he'd gleaned some valuable insight into the man that was Agent Lamprey.

To be continued….