Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
After her encounter with the frumpy boy who looked like he was locked in the surfer era. Julie returned to work but she didn’t do much the whole day. She spent most of her time studying the model program the company used. Before her long and dragging day ended, Leann called all the designers and modelers into the conference room. She closed the door behind her although it was useless since everything was made of glass.
Julie thought of it too soon as Leann commanded the room “Privacy.” She ordered and instantly the blinds covered all the windows making the room appeared with four walls. She turned to everyone and gave a grim smile “Now, for some of the newer people, you probably don’t know that we have a regime that we go by at the beginning of every month. You are to take home a toy, any toy that the company has made in the past year. I will expect an evaluation on how to make this toy better, perfect it even, in about two weeks. Is that clear?”
Everyone muttered and nodded. Julie on the other hand was more interested. She raised her hand and Leann raised her eyebrows at the questioning girl “Does the company make a toy puppy?”
Leann smiled, finally someone was interested in this monthly project “Yes, we do, it’s called Robotic Pup.”
Julie smiled approvingly “Is it active?”
“I think it is, but there is always room for improvement.” She looked at the new employee thoughtfully “Would you like to evaluate this toy?”
“Can I?” Julie smiled “There’s not any order that we have to go by?” she gave her sister a glance and noticed Cass staring at her strangely.
“Of course! It's about time someone was more interested in this project.” She walked over to her own computer and typed it in. “Okay, everyone can tell me one at a time. People that have already chosen can go and pick up their toys and go home.” She gave Julie a wink.
Julie smiled as she walked out to her desk and collected her belongings. She stood outside and waited for her sister. After almost fifteen minutes she has not seen her sister, but everyone else left. Finally half an hour later, she saw Cass walking out, her expression was nothing near satisfied. She approached her sister carefully “What’s wrong?”
Cass shook her head “Nothing.” She did not want to bother. She knew Leann did not have a good impression of her, there was no use in making matters worse especially after she noticed how Leann favored Julie.
“What toy did you chose?” Julie asked casually as they walked to towards the elevator to the 1st floor to pick up their toys.
“Julie?” the girls stopped as they turned to see Leann looking at them with curiosity.
“Yes?” Julie replied.
Leann approached them with a look that Julie could not read but Cass knew better, a question was coming “You two know each other?” she asked cautiously.
Julie was about to reply but her sister quickly butted in “We’re just casual friends. High school peers.” She nodded.
Julie turned to her sister wondering why she had to lie, but she sensed that her sister had a reason. “Yeah…” she answered after a few seconds.
Leann nodded “I see.” She walked away without saying anything further.
“What was that all about?” Julie asked her sister.
“I’ll tell you later.” The girls collected their toys and went on their way home. When they were safe in their electric car, Cass explained “She doesn’t like me.” She summarized the first incident that happened which caused Leann to dislike her. “That’s why I had to lie, if she knew we were sisters, you would be in big trouble, she would make your life a living hell. Trust me.”
Julie shook her head “That’s not fair.” She felt concerned for her sister “I promise, once we get to know her better, I’ll make sure she changes her attitude towards you. Its too early to try to be close.” She patted her sister on the shoulder “It’ll get better. I promise.”
Cass smiled with a shrug of the shoulder “I’m use to it.” She brightened up at a thought “Hey, why did you chose that Robotic Pup?”
Julie smiled evilly “You’ll see.” She said secretively.
Sure enough, Cass soon found out. The minute they walked through the door, they found Will sitting on the couch eating his own dinner. He looked up “Hope you two don’t mind, but I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait for you guys to get home.”
Julie shrugged “It’s okay. Honey, I have a surprise for you.” She sang happily.
His face clouded over “I don’t like the way you said ‘honey’. What surprise, I’m afraid to ask.”
She hid the pup behind her back as she walked closer and practically dropped it on his lap “It’s just like a real puppy!” she watched as he scrambled to get the mechanical toy off his lap, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Get it off me!!!” he panicked when the dog purred against his chest, the cold metal seeping through his sweater. Julie burst into giggles as she pointed at him and laughed. She knew his fear of the mechanical dog when they first met and it was a joke ever since. She never understood why he hated them so much. “Don’t just stand there and laugh, help me!!”
Cass shook her head at her laughing sister “What’s wrong with him?” she walked to him calmly and picked up the moving dog, his tail was wagging back and forth and he was almost as active as a real live puppy. The minute she held onto it, it barked happily at her. “Why are you afraid of this?” she asked Will.
He was completely shaken up as he got up and stood far away from Cass “Just get that thing away from me!” he noticed that Julie was still laughing “That’s not funny and you know it!”
Julie wiped the tears from her eyes “I’m trying to help you with your childhood fears.”
Before he had the chance to say anything else, his watched began to beep frantically. He took a glance at it and his face instantly calmed down. “Oh, time for our daily exercise.” He smiled at his wife.
“Daily exercise?“ Cass asked.
Julie’s smile faded “Oh yeah, our shrink said it’s good for us to work on our differences. And we need to do it everyday.” She explained as she waved for him to come over.
He steered clear away from the moving puppy in Cass’s arms as he raced down the hall to their bedroom. Julie rolled her eyes at her sister before following him. In the room, they locked the door with the new password that they cracked while Will pressed a tiny button on the side of his watch. The tiny clasp opened up and a bright light shined towards the wall. A moving picture of a bearded man appeared “Good evening agents.” He said with high authority.
“Sergeant Liu.” The two stood in their stance like a military officer.
“At ease.” He nodded “I’m just checking on how you two are doing.” He turned to Julie “Are you in?”
“Yes, sir. It was almost too easy, which concerns me.” She explained how she got the job.
The man nodded “I wouldn’t not be too worried. Although Leo Fung is a smart man, he has a weakness for beautiful women. Good job, Agent Cheung. How about you?” he turned to William.
“I’ve checked around for their competitors but cannot find anyone worth taking the chance on. Toys Domination is too strong. We cannot counterstrike them with another competitor that doesn’t exist.” He explained.
“Don’t worry about that part then, I’ll talk to the higher authorities and see what we can do. In the meantime, I want you to help Agent Cheung to gain the trust of Leo Fung.” His orders were clear. “How are you two getting along?”
Julie and Will exchanged knowing glances “We’re doing fine, sir.” Will answered for the both of them. “How will I help her?”
“Join the company.” The man said shortly “I must go now. Agent Cheung, do not play anymore pranks on Agent Lai. His weaknesses is nothing to joke with. We need him to be strong not scream like a girl.”
Julie stifled a giggle as she nodded “Yes, sir.” The man was wiser beyond his age. Plus he knew everything that went on with his agents.
Will cleared his throat as he saluted the image “I will try my best to tolerate her.”
Julie threw him a glare that can burn through walls but he ignored it. “That is fine. Remember, you two are a team. I put you two together for a reason. Don’t disappoint me. We’ve had too many agents died from this mission. No one has returned. I see a good future for you two, but you must work together.”
“Yes, Sir!” the two saluted before his image was sucked back into Will’s supposed watch, it was actually a contact device that they used for communication with their authorities.
Julie wasn’t sure how she came about the devotion to be a secret agent. She just wanted something exciting and a job that can satisfy her with curiosity. She always wanted to solve mysteries when she was young. Her sister did not know of her passion and later when she decided to move to London, it was a three year training process to become the best agent the FBI has ever conformed.
As for Will, he has followed in his father’s footsteps. He joined the mission to discover the secrets of Toys Domination due to the fact that his father had died many years before trying to solve the case. He promised on his father’s grave that he would forever be faithful to the FBI.
During their three year training, their head Sergeant pushed for the teamed agents to learn more about each other. From knowing their fears to understanding their strengths. Although the Sergeant found Julie to be more inconsiderate of Will’s fears, he soon learned that was part of her personality. His only request was for them two to get along, which they tried. When he teamed them up, the two had disagreed and would not commit but soon, they knew there was no choice when he locked them up in a closed out maze and work together to make it out alive. They did, one of the few teams that did, therefore he saw something in them that no one else saw.
Julie sat on the bed as she sighed “Isn’t it enough I have to see you everyday? Now I have to see you at work too?” she complained.
He raised an eyebrow at her “You think I like that idea?” he was about to sit down next to her when she gave him a no-you-don’t look and he walked across the room and sat on the chair. “Why do you torment me?” he asked. It was something he pondered since he met her but they never talked about.
She laughed “Why do you ask ridiculous questions?”
“Why do you answer questions with a question?” he was as quick as she was.
She shrugged carelessly “I don’t know. I just like to torture people I guess. Mainly you.”
“But why?” he wanted to get an answer out of her once and for all.
“Because I just do!” she sounded agitated “You don’t ask someone why they love a person, so why do you ask a person why they dislike someone else?”
Will shook his head “You dislike me that much?”
She tilted her head and scrunched her face thoughtfully “I don’t dislike you….I don’t know, I just like to see you squirm like a girl.”
He sighed as he rolled his eyes “I give up, this is never going anywhere.” He got up and faced the door “Willie.” That was the code to unlock the door. He almost jumped back when he saw Cass standing there with the puppy in her arms. “Oh, get that thing away from me!”
Julie laughed while her sister dropped the puppy “Go outside.” She commanded, it barked in reply and did as she told. She turned to Julie, “How did you guys unlock my code? I couldn’t open the door at all.”
The two looked at each other secretively “I knew your password for this room was my name.” Julie said nonchalantly “You always used my name for a command. You’ve done it since we were small. Anyways, we need privacy.” She said knowingly.
Cass nodded “Oh. Well, that puppy is hungry, it’s been barking the whole time.”
“Hungry? It’s a machine, how could it be hungry? What do you feed it?” Will asked Julie.
“I didn’t know we have to feed it too. Gosh, I didn’t know how realistic it was until now.” She said without much feeling. Will instantly knew that she was lying.
“Why do you hate me?” he groaned.
Cass smiled “You two definitely got problems.” She closed the door for them to continue their session.