Joyce Barnes Mission Files #1567: Just a Normal Girl

You let out an obnoxiously loud yawn as you traversed the near-empty halls of your school. It had been rather painfully average—well, average for what your life is now—but still, the only thing you could note was that your younger sister was staying home today because she was "sick." Besides the fact that your sister is feigning being ill, nothing out of the ordinary... There was nothing that was more out of the ordinary, for this school's standards at least. You've got a bunch of assassins hanging about, super geniuses like Hayeta as your lab partner, and even a certain secret agent who has you on her leash. Even without remarkable individuals like them, there were still a lot of freaks attending this school. Honestly, at this point, you've become numb to it; it's just part of everyday life, even if it makes you want to pull your hair out at times.

As you continued to make your way through the hall, you noticed something dart out of a broom closet as you passed by it—something taking ahold of your shirt. Things like this, this was just part of your normal routine. You didn't even flinch as you were lifted off of your feet, being pulled into the closet so fast that your shoes ended up flying off your feet.

"I have English class to get to, you know." You grumbled as your captor released their grip on your shirt, their right hand falling to their side. Or at least, as much as it could be to their side due to how cramped the broom closet was. Your back was pressed against the right wall, a mop was poking at your side, and your chest was pressing up against the person on the other side of the closet. That of course being Joyce, who stayed silent despite having heard what you said, probably just ignoring you so she can get onto what she wants to say.

The secret agent peered out the crack in the barely open door before closing it silently, keeping the knob of the door twisted in order to minimize the amount of noise it made. She then turned her attention to you, her eyes having that same serious look in them that they always had. "Alright, you know why I brought you in here today?" She asked.

"Fuck no." You responded. Why would she ever know what she wants or is planning? Helping out with her agency nonsense is all well and good, but you already have plenty to worry about in your life, like getting to English class on time. "What, did you see an interesting-looking seagull today?" You teased, poking fun at how Joyce liked to take note of every small detail around your town, making even the smallest of reports over the smallest of things.

"I have a high amount of confidence in the investigation that I've performed." Joyce stated, completely ignoring your joke. You frowned over her apparent lack of sense of humor. Or, well, actually, she did have one since you've heard her crack jokes outside of her student act. She just didn't find you funny.

"Oh really, a what would that be?" You asked.

"I've discovered a suspicious person among us." she bluntly replied. Your heart skipped a beat upon hearing her say that. There was only one person who Joyce would ever refer to as suspicious, The W.I.T.C.H agent that was hiding somewhere in this school.

"You mean you've discovered the W.I.T.C.H informant?!" You inquired with alarm in your voice.

"Not sure," She murmured in response, slapping a hand over your mouth in order to quiet you down. She waited a bit, looking toward the door to see if there was any movement by it. Once she was sure there was no one in the area, she removed her hand from your mouth. "I just know there's a suspicious person. She's been on my radar since I first arrived here."

"Who?" You asked. Someone in this school, someone who was possibly close to you, could potentially be a member of a terrorist organization. The bonds they shared with you and the others, precious moments that we could never get back, could have been entirely fake.

Joyce looked you in the eyes, possibly gaging whether or not you were prepared to handle the information she was about to share. After a second passed, Joyce spoke up. "Upsilon."

You blankly stared at Joyce, in complete and utter disbelief at what she had just said to you. Upsilon? Boring ol' Upsilon? The less interesting than a stale piece of bread, Upsilon? You've known that girl ever since kindergarten. And saying known is a stretch beyond stretches, cause she wasn't your friend or anything; she was just always in the background. There wasn't anything wrong with her; besides being the blandest thing on this side of the coast, she had friends, an after-school job, owned a cat, and had a decent passion for psychology. She did have a few quirks, like how she lives in a foster home with a bunch of other siblings that you've never seen in your life or that she has a metal plate in her skull from an accident she suffered when she was a kid, but the thing that stood out the most was her dumb-sounding name. Seriously, what type of name is Upsilon? You'd kill yourself if you had a name like that. "So, is she a sleeper agent or something? Cause, like, I've known since forever, quiet literally a nobody."

"No, something worse." Joyce replied with urgency in her voice. What the hell could possibly be worse than a sleeper agent? Joyce had an uncharacteristically nervous look on her face; it was almost as if she didn't want to say what she thought, as if saying it could endanger the both of you. After a moment of contemplation, Joyce pulled you in close in order to whisper something into your ear. Knowing the agent, she would've already checked the area thrice for bugs, so you doubt she needed to go this far with confidentiality. Nonetheless, you appreciated the efforts she made to keep you safe. Or at least, you did until you heard what she said.

You pulled Joyce away from you and gave her a look of pure amusement. "You should try getting some sleep tonight; I know you like to stay up late." You advised. Maybe you misread Joyce's nervousness; maybe she was just worried about sounding stupid.

"You don't believe me?" Joyce asked with offense in her voice.

"Clearly not, since your obviously trying to take the pissed out of me." You answered. Joyce's face twisted into a look of anger, she looked like she wanted to slap the shit out of you.

"I am certainly not!" She practically shouted, but managed to keep her voice down enough to prevent your conversation from being heard from the outside.

"Okay, but you have to be because what you said makes little to no sense." You retorted.

"It makes plenty of sense." The agent huffed, lifting her arms up and managing to cross them.

"It what way?!" You whispered yelled.

Joyce frowned deeply at you before leaning in close to you, her nose nearly brushing up against yours. "Listen, I don't have time to explain." Personally, you think you have all the time in the world. Well, maybe not since the bell would ring any minute now, but that was besides the point; we have bigger problems right now. The secret agent reached into the breast pocket of her blazer and pulled out a pair of scissors. It seemed that you had tested your luck one too many times around these women and were going to die for it. Getting your throat slit by a bad bitch, just like you dreamed of. "I need you to cut some of her hair off for a DNA sample, if you were wondering." Joyce explained, placing the scissors in your hand.

...Well, this was so much lamer. "Excuse me? Collect her hair? Do I look like a pervert to you?" You chided, not enjoying the task that Joyce had assigned to you. Joyce eyed you up and down, visibly biting back a response after she was finished analyzing you. You'll just ignore that for now. "How would I even pin her down? It's not like I know her class schedule."

"Easy. I put a note in her locker telling her to wait in room 346 after school." Joyce explained. "I even went as far as to forge her teacher's handwriting and signature."

You stared blankly at her once more. "Okay, but why me?" You questioned.

"Obviously because she'd see me coming. You on the other, she'd never suspect in a million years." She explained.

You opened your mouth to say something, but were suddenly cut off by the school bell blaring out, signaling the start of classes. "I have to keep up appearances. This is where I take my leave." Not wasting even a second, Joyce darted out of the closet faster than your eye could track. It was as if she vanished from your very eyes, with the only evidence that she was even here being that the closet door was swung open. You poked your head out of the closet, looking both ways down each end of the hallway; she was nowhere to be found. Joyce had probably already made it all the way up to her class on the second floor by now.

You could only stand there in defeat, letting out a sign of frustration as you stepped back into your sneakers. Guess you'll go with Joyce's plan; you had nothing better going on today anyway.

It was 15:03; around this time, you would have already been on the road to your home by now, but nope, here you were hiding in another closet, waiting like a creep in room 346 for Upsilon to walk in. Truly, what were you doing with your life? After a minute or two passed, your target entered. There she was, Upsilon, looking ever uninteresting as always. You almost wanted to yawn upon seeing her.

She currently had her back to you, so maybe if you were fast enough, you could get a quick snip. You began to slowly open the door of the dust-filled closet that you were in and reached out your scissor-wielding hand to the back of her head. But out of nowhere, Upsilon moved out of your reach, walking forward to one of the desks in the room. Taking a seat at the desk, Upsilon dropped her bag down to the floor, removing her thermoflask from one of its side pouches.

Alright, guess you'll have to leave the closet to get her. Great. You waited a few seconds for the right moment to go. That moment was when Upsilon began to unscrew the cap of her thermoflask, the squeaking it made as the cap slid against the metal of the flask made for the perfect cover. Or so you thought, because as soon as you took a single step out of the closet, the normal girl immediately whipped her head around to face you.

You eyes locked onto her boring ass brown eyes; there wasn't anything wrong with having brown eyes; in fact, they can be extremely attractive, like the ones that Kallaicone and Zoe had. But Upsilon? Dull as hell... Probably not what you should be focusing on right now. Instead, you should focus on the fear presently within them. Said eyes soon dropped to the scissors in your hand, causing them to widen even further in fear.

"I can explain-"

"HELP!" Upsilon shouted at the top of her lungs.

"No! No, wait! I'm not going to hurt you; I just want some of your hair!" You frantically tried to explain, waving your arm around like a madman in your panic.

For a second Upsilon's face calmed down. "Oh, okay." She responded. Oh? She was actually fine with with that-

"PERVERT!!!!!" She screamed once more, somehow managing to get even louder this time, her voice filled with disgust rather than the fear it had earlier.

"N-no, I swear it's not-" You started but found yourself at loss for words. You stuttered a bit as you tried to form the correct sentence to say. "I just need a DNA sample!"

Upsilon's disgust-ridden face instantly changed to one of skeptical bewilderment. She did not believe you in the slightest. "Really? For what? A science experiment?" She interrogated. You made an attempt to nod your head; that sounded about right, even if it wasn't true. It was best if you didn't give your real reason; Joyce would never forgive you if you blew her cover on purpose like that.

"Yeah." You shook your head up and down in frantic acknowledgment.

"In that case, you could've just asked like a normal person," She chastised. "I wouldn't have given you any either way, but at least it wouldn't have been what ever the actual hell this is?" Upsilon continued to berate you. You could only awkwardly rub the back of your head in shame; it was like you were being scolded by an older woman. Never have you had to deal with something this embarrassing before. "And also, did you forge that letter? If you did, then that's beyond creepy. Seriously, you should be put on a list!"

"Yeah..." You whimpered out in defeat, grimacing in embarrassment. You focused your eyes on the ground, not wanting to look back up at her. For a moment, she stopped yelling at you in order to catch her breath. She grabbed her thermoflask and brought it up to her lips, taking a sip. Her throat was probably sore from all that shouting. You could hear it start to get scratchy toward the end there.

While Upsilon drank from her flask, you decided that maybe this would be a good moment for you to speak up. "You know, the reason for all this is pretty stupid. You see... I'll just be real with you; are you a robot?" You asked; you had already embarrassed yourself earlier; why not continue it while also accomplishing the assignment that Joyce tasked you with?

The water from Upsilon's thermoflask spilled onto her shirt from how fast she pulled the bottle away from her mouth. Due to the surprise that your question had caused her, Upsilon had accidentally taken in a larger amount of water into her mouth than she had intended, causing her to ****. Entering a coughing fit, Upsilon set her flash down as she hunched over, not wanting to cough into the open air. "Bruh!" She managed to sputter out in between coughs.

"I know, I know. Completely ridiculous, we should just forget this ever happened." You attempted to make amends to the normal girl as she was recovering her breath.

After a few more coughs and panting, Upsilon finally spoke up. "Hey."

"...Hey?" You repeated before being taken aback by time suddenly crawling to a halt. You didn't even see her move, but somehow Upsilon managed to cross the distance between the two of you in a near instant. Her fist couldn't have been any closer than just a few millimeters away from connecting with your face. Despite the speed difference between the two of you, you somehow found yourself being able to somehow inch away from her left hook. Glancing around the room, you could see that she had launched her desk into the blacktop wall from the **** of her dashing toward you, the desk awkwardly hanging at an angle due to one of its legs being embedded into the wall. You continued to inch away until the moment you were out of danger, when time returned to its normal pace.

Upsilon's fist flew toward the white concrete wall behind you with so much **** that your clothes ripped off your body from just her fist passing by. Upon crashing into the wall, Upsilon's fist completely shattered the thing, reducing it to a fine white dust in an instant. You could only stand there in shock in your blue, Mar symbol-patterned boxers. A look of horror was completely etched into your face at the near-**** experience you had just faced.

As the dust began to clear up from around you, Upsilon entered your view once more. The "normal girl" pulled her fist back, frowning in confusion over how she somehow missed. Glancing down at her left hand, she inspected the skin around her knuckles, which were unharmed, as she flexed them, as if she had hurt herself or something. After moving them around a bit more, Upsilon turned her attention back to you, a scowl present on her face.

You stood there, frozen in horror. Earlier, it had been her whose eyes were shrouded in fear, but now it was your turn. She was going to kill you. No, you couldn't let that happen; you needed to do something. You quickly snapped yourself out of your frozen state. "Y-You know the c-crazy thing is— DO IT NOW!" You shouted, pointing to the windows at the back of the class room.

Upsilon's lips quirked even further down, giving you an unamused look, as she didn't even believe your attempted distraction for even a second. You stood there frozen, still pointing toward the windows, only your eyes moving as they desperately darted from Upsilon toward the windows again, desperately hoping that she'd look away to give you the opportunity to escape.

Beads of sweat raced down your forehead for each second that passed by, until, with an annoyed sigh, Upsilon decided to humor you and turned toward the windows. The "normal girl" blinked once as she scanned the area; there was nothing in view, just a class room full of empty desks that had been toppled over from the **** produced by her movements. Upsilon puffed up her cheeks and pursed her lips together, slowly shaking her head in frustration. The robot girl then turned her attention back to you, only to find the space empty as you had made your escape. She craned her head toward the doorway, where she caught a glimpse of your half-naked self slamming into the closed door, forcing it open, and sprinting into the empty halls. Your sneakers are squeaking as they hit the tile floor.

You let out an anguished grunt as you ran down the halls with all the speed you could muster, sprinting so hard that drool was running down your face. You had to get out here now! It didn't matter how out of breath you felt; you couldn't stop running. It didn't matter if this was as fast as you could go, because you needed to go faster. In desperation, you **** yourself to go past your limits, your muscles screaming at you in agony as you sprinted to the end of the hall and made a sharp turn. Not letting yourself slow down for even a second, you hurried down the next hall.

As you sprinted with every last bit of might, you heard something. It was the combination of the pattering of feet and metal slamming against metal. The two noises grew louder and louder, until eventually, against your better judgment, you decided to look behind you. At first, it was just the empty hall way, the close sounds echoing from somewhere else, until Upsilons darted into the frame, the robot girl sliding as she attempted to make the sharp turn. After catching her, she dashed forward at an inhuman speed, the soles of her Uggs pattering off the floor at a rapid rate. The speed at which she ran was not only fast enough to close the distance that you had put between the two of you easily, but also fast enough to create a wind behind her stronger enough to blow the locker doors open.

As Upsilon got closer, she reached out a hand, intent on grabbing hold of you. You let out a high-pitched squeal of desperation as her fingers inch closer and closer to you.