A View to a Spill

Daria whistled quietly as she approached Lawndale High. This early there was still a chill to the air that made the physical effort of their brisk walk refreshing. Jane, walking beside her, looked at her friend with puzzlement: Daria happy was a rare event, Daria happy on the way to school even less common, and Daria whistling was unprecedented.

"God, you're cheerful today. Quinn kidnapped by aliens or something?"

Daria stopped whistling, suddenly self-conscious, and looked at her friend. She couldn't tell her how good it felt to finally be doing something useful with her life, not without having to provide an explanation she wasn't allowed to give.

"No. No aliens. It's just such a lovely day, and it's going to be even better later."

"Huh? In case you've forgotten, amiga, we're on our way to school. Better is not in the cards, merely another wasted day listening to clueless teachers recite propaganda even they don't believe."

"No longer, at least for me. Today I start an independent study project. No more formal classes. I just have to turn in papers and other assignments, and otherwise work on what I want."

"Right. And I've been elected Pope. You're confusing last night's dreams with reality."

"Heh. You'll see. Or rather, you won't see me in any classes."

"So, if you're going over the wall, can I come?" Jane asked, in a more serious tone.

Daria looked at her friend, and answered with honest regret. "Sorry, Ms. Li's going to be watching me like a hawk. She made it clear I had to go solo on this. Maybe I can bring her around later."

"How long's this project going to last? And why is this the first I've heard of it?"

"I'm not sure, maybe the rest of the year, and I only found out about it yesterday, when you were away on the museum trip. How was it, anyway?"

"Not as good as I'd hoped. Their idea of art doesn't include anything from the twentieth century, and the museum isn't big enough to be able to afford anything good from earlier times, so it was all rather mediocre." Jane accepted the change of subject, but didn't try to continue the conversation. The two walked on in silence until they reached the school.

They turned, walking around the traffic circle in front of the main entrance. Daria reached into the pocket of her green jacket and pulled out her watch, thinking that she really needed to fix the strap someday.

"I'm running a bit late. I've got to catch Ms. Li before first period to do some paperwork. I'll see you when school gets out."

"What, no rooftop escape during study hall?" Jane tried for a light, teasing, tone, but succeeded only in sounding lonely.

This was becoming awkward. Daria couldn't tell Jane the truth, and she hated having to lie to her friend, but if she was going to go through with it, that was part of the cost.

"No, I'm pretty sure my whole day's already booked."

"And you consider this an improvement?"

"Well, I won't know for sure until I try, but it seems like it ought to be. Anyway, catch you later."

Daria waved to Jane, as she turned and knocked on the Principal's door. When Ms. Li responded, she opened the door and walked in.

Angela Li, principal of Lawndale High, sat behind her desk, wearing her typical gray business suit. Her face usually held a severe, disapproving look when Daria encountered her, but today she actually smiled as Daria entered the office and took a seat before the desk.

"Good morning, Ms. Morgendorffer. Are you still interested in being my Aide?"

"Yep. What do I need to do?"

"Well, there's a stack of paperwork. Once we get that out of the way, I'm going to take you down to one of our other facilities where you'll get your orientation and some initial training. You'll be going there yourself for a few weeks. Mostly it's to learn what we do, and the tools and processes we use to do it. There'll also be some basic self-defense skills training. You shouldn't ever need to use it, but it's a requirement."

"Um, self defense? Like Judo? I've taken a basic self-defense class, but I wasn't good at it."

"I know, but we have very experienced instructors, and you'll learn better with one-on-one training. It also includes more lethal skills than your self-defense class did."

Daria scowled. "Lethal? I don't like the sound of that. Why does an aide need to know how to kill?"

"As I said, you should never need to use it. But, just because I can't foresee a situation that would require it, doesn't mean one won't occur. If it comes down to you or them, I want you to be the one standing when it's over. This isn't a game, and the other people aren't very nice. If this is all sounding too real, you can still change your mind."

"No... I'm still interested. I knew it wasn't a game when I accepted your offer."

"Good, then let's get started on this pile of paper."

Outside the door, Jane straightened up and walked away with a frown on her face.

Daria stood in the middle of the operations center, watching her team as they monitored agents around the world. Unlike the first time she'd seen this room, today she knew what every station was doing. It was her first day acting as supervisor, and even though she'd trained for weeks, and could recite the routine in her sleep, her nerves were strained to the breaking point. As Ms. Li's aide, she was responsible for handling routine problems, and notifying Ms. Li when a problem wasn't "routine". A mistake could not only compromise a mission that may have taken months of preparation, it could cost the agents involved their lives. Her only reassurance was that her predecessor, who was now engaged in a detailed study of plumbing near the south pole, had managed to do the job for over a year without killing anyone.

"Ma'am?" Brian, near the door, called. It took Daria a moment to realize that she was being addressed.

"Just call me Daria, Brian, I'm too young to be a 'Ma'am' yet. What's up?"

"Agent Glasscutter in DC just pushed the panic button."

"What kind of codename is 'glasscutter'? No, never mind, what's his situation?"

"Glasscutter's a cat burglar, I think the name's due to that, although it's also a play on the name of a famous Japanese sword. Anyway, she was spotted leaving the German embassy, and they're tailing her car. We can't do anything overt because they're allies, and we can't let them know she's ours."

"Let's see the map."

Brian brought up a detailed street map on one of the monitors, with a moving indicator for one vehicle. Daria looked closely.

"That's a commercial district. Do we have anyone down there who could stage an accident to cut off the pursuers?"

"We've got two teams enroute, but it will be at least ten minutes before the first is in position, that's too long."

"Yeah, the Germans are probably moving their own backups in, too. Hmm. Can she abandon the car and hop on a Metra train? If we time it right, they won't be able to board the same train, and she can lose them at the next station. Once she's clear, one of the backup teams can pick her up."

Brian thought, bringing up a train schedule on a second monitor.

"That should work. Team two is in the right place, but the schedule looks tight. We need to tell her 'go' now or she'll miss the train."

Daria thought, briefly, then nodded decisively. "Tell her 'go', then."

"Yes Ma'am, I mean Daria." He turned to the screen, and began to issue directions into his microphone in a low voice. Daria unconsciously wiped the sweat from her forehead, as she looked around the room to see if anything else needed attention. Only ten minutes, and she'd already had to deal with an incident. No wonder Ms. Li had headaches. Brian turned back to her.

"Everything's moving. Now we wait five minutes to see if the car makes it to the station on time, and another ten before we'll get a pickup confirmation from team two."

Brian turned back to the map, with Daria looking closely over his shoulder. She stood, barely moving for fifteen minutes, until Brian looked up again.

"The backup unit just called in. They've got her, and the package, and there's no sign of the Germans. It looks like we're clear." She nodded, and he turned back to his displays, chattering happily with the team about their next move.

In her office, Ms. Li pressed a key, and the view from the closed circuit camera disappeared from her laptop's screen. She couldn't have planned a better test of her new aides judgment if she'd wanted to: clear-headed under pressure, no wasted effort, and as close to an optimal solution as could be hoped for given the situation. It had taken Perkins over a month to become that comfortable handling snafus, and since they averaged several per day, it had been a very long month for her. But it looked like she could get back to work on the school budget, and trust Daria to yell for help when she needed it. Maybe she'd actually get a decent night's sleep tonight.

Daria and Jane turned out of the school drive, walking towards the setting sun. Jane thought Daria looked exhausted, and she could smell the odor of stale sweat.

"Hey, you run a marathon today, or what?"

"No," Daria replied, in a tired monotone.

"So, you must be trying out for football then."

"Sure."

"Um, Daria, are you even listening to me?"

Daria looked over at her. "Of course I am Jane. I'm just tired."

"Rough day of independent study, huh? I haven't seen too much of you the last few weeks, but you've never looked like this. What's up?"

Daria was quiet, apparently thinking. Jane turned an exasperated look on her friend.

"Well, talk to me, or am I alone here and just hallucinating that you're with me?"

"If you were hallucinating, I'd probably be more awake."

"True. So, tell me about your day."

"Nothing much to tell. Hitting the books. Sometimes they hit back. Today was like that."

Jane, surprised, looked closely at her, but detected no humor.

"Daria, that isn't even a good evasion."

"Yeah, but I'm too tired to make up a believable lie, and I don't want to lie to you anyway. But I can't tell you what I've been doing. Just let it go, huh?" She ended on a rather plaintive note, which did not sound at all like the Daria Jane was used to.

"Are you in some kind of trouble? Is Ms. Li threatening you somehow?"

Daria stopped, apparently surprised. "No, nothing like that! Work was just harder than I expected today, okay?" She began to walk again.

"Work?" Jane inquired.

"Schoolwork."

"Yeah, right. Whatever you're up to, I hope you know what you're doing. But from the outside, it looks like you're headed for a coronary before you're twenty. Well, if I can't help you do it, and you won't talk to me about it, at least I can help you forget it. There was a Sick, Sad, World marathon last weekend that you missed when you disappeared on one of your 'research trips', and I taped it. Want to watch five hours of senseless human behavior?"

Daria smiled. "Jane, you're a beacon of insanity in an world that's all too real. Lead on, I could use some senseless behavior right now."

Daria walked briskly into the Principal's office, closing the door behind her, and took a seat.

"You wanted to see me, Angela?"

Ms. Li spoke without looking up from the keyboard of her computer. "Yes. I'll be right with you Daria, I just need to send this off first." She typed for a couple of minutes, and Daria took the opportunity to relax, staring up at the ceiling without thinking about anything in particular.

"There, that's done," Ms. Li said, with an air of satisfaction. "No more budget work for another month at least. I can actually relax this weekend. Maybe I'll read a book."

"Books. I used to read books. Do they still print them?" Daria asked, tiredly.

"You're really beat, aren't you?"

"Just a little."

"Hmph. Don't try to fool me. In the past four days you've had to call me exactly once. You've handled fifteen incidents yourself, and handled them very well I might add. I know just how much effort that takes."

Daria looked up, surprised both by the approval in her voice, and the quantity.

"Fifteen? I hadn't realized it had been so many."

"You never do, when you're in it up to your armpits. You just deal with the current crisis, and move on. But I meant what I said: you've done very well. Usually when we break in a new supervisor, I have to work twice as hard as usual for the first month. But this week has been my easiest in two years.

Ms. Li leaned forward, folding her hands on the desk, her posture emphasizing her words as her tone became more serious.

"But it's been that way because you've been driving yourself into the ground. You need to take some breaks yourself, and delegate some of the more routine duties. Take some time to hang out on the roof with Jane. I don't want you killing yourself. That won't do me any good in the long run, and remember you have a cover to keep. People will notice if you look like a zombie at the end of every day."

"Funny, my parents haven't noticed a thing. Even my boyfriend thinks I'm just working too hard because graduation's approaching."

Ms. Li leaned back in her chair. "But Jane's noticed."

Daria looked up, startled, and protested, "she doesn't know anything!"

"No, I don't think she does, but she has noticed your behavior. Remember, there's no such thing as privacy in this town."

"I'm painfully aware of that. I was embarrassed enough kissing Tom when I thought we were alone. Now that I know someone's always watching, it's really difficult. I'm surprised he hasn't noticed."

"Teenage boys are relatively oblivious to anything outside their own skin."

"Yeah, I'd figured that out myself. But you didn't call me in here to talk about Jane and Tom. What's up?"

"Actually, I did call you in to talk about them." If anything, Ms. Li's voice turned more serious.

Daria looked at her, doubtfully.

"Or, to be more specific, to suggest that you need a break from work. I've got a job I need done, and it will give you a change of pace, and it's a hell of a lot less stress than the ops center."

Daria perked up, heartened by the thought of a break. "Anything! What do you need?"

"We've word from a deep cover agent in DC. He needs to pass us some urgent information. Phone contact isn't safe, and I don't want to risk exposing him by using one of our normal agents as a courier. I need you to go down and pick up his report from a blind drop. Later, after we review the report, you'll leave some information for him to collect at another drop, plus whatever instructions we add based on his report. Just a simple courier mission, and you can even take Jane along and spend the weekend at a museum, it's the perfect cover."

"She'd like that, but isn't it risky having someone along? She's not stupid."

"I think you're inventive enough to pull it off. Worst case, if you have to abort, we'll get someone else to do the mission next week. This is urgent, but not that urgent."

"So, when do I leave?"

"Now. We can do it later, but I'd like to have that report as soon as possible. Go collect Jane when she gets out of History in fifteen minutes. Take the green motor-pool car, materials for the package you'll drop off Sunday are in the trunk, and they'll fit in your pack. And this is a field mission, so take a gun and a phone, and make sure the gun is one of the non-metallic ones, you don't want to get caught in some metal detector. Your code name for any communications with us will be 'Cynic'. Oh, and here's your ID card, just in case something goes really wrong."

Ms. Li handed a leather folder over. Daria flipped it open, and read "FBI, agent Melody Powers". She looked up at Ms. Li. "Isn't impersonating an FBI agent a crime, and aren't I too young to be an agent anyway?"

"It's not a crime if we don't get caught, and you, or rather Melody, are in their files with an older age listed, so the credentials will check out if necessary. It's a favor they do us, although few people other than their director know of it."

"Why 'Melody Powers'?"

"I thought you'd appreciate the humor, Daria," Ms. Li smiled.

"And to think, Angela, for two years I thought you were a humorless bureaucrat."

Ms. Li's smile widened, "I am a humorless bureaucrat, I'd break my cover if I allowed myself a sense of humor."

Daria laughed. "True enough. Okay, I'm off to DC. What do I tell my parents?"

"I'll call your mother's assistant, and let her know you went on a school trip to the city, and won't be back until Sunday night. I've made reservations for two rooms at a hotel. That paperwork's in the trunk of the car, also. Make the pick-up tonight while you do some sightseeing, and spend tomorrow and Saturday playing tourist. The agency will cover meals and reasonable expenses. We should have the information for the drop ready by Sunday morning."

"Reasonable expenses? No chartered jets?" Daria teased.

"If you really needed one, we'd cover it. After this week, I do trust your judgment."

"Now I'm worried."

"Good, a little worry is healthy."

Daria and Jane walked into the hotel lobby, a spacious atrium that soared at least ten stories, with balconies at every floor. The hotel desk was at the far side, beyond a large fountain surrounded by a cafe. A few groups of people were eating a late dinner, but the room was mostly empty.

"I'm starved," Jane said, "all that walking around really burns the calories."

"Me too, but we should check in first and dump our packs," Daria replied.

They crossed quickly to the desk, and the twenty-something man behind the desk looked up with a weary sigh.

"Yeah?" he asked, in a tone that suggested they were about to waste his time, and their own.

"That's what I like about this place, Jane, the positive, customer-friendly attitude of the staff. You just don't see that degree of service most places these days." She turned to the clerk, "Reservation for two rooms, Morgendorffer."

The clerk typed on a computer, then suddenly straightened and looked at Daria with an odd mixture of respect and subservience.

"Uh, yes ma'am, we have you booked for two rooms on the concierge level. I apologize for my earlier tone, I thought you were part of the school group we have this week."

Daria and Jane exchanged puzzled looks.

"What's a concierge level?" Jane asked, addressing nobody in particular.

Daria looked at the clerk, who swallowed nervously before explaining.

"It's a restricted access floor for our frequent visitor club members and other elite guests."

Jane looked at Daria, and raised an eyebrow, "You come here often?"

"First time," said Daria, thinking quickly. Angela must have booked the rooms this way for added security. "But Mom's law firm does a lot of business in the city." She turned back to the clerk, "So, do we get keys, or do I have to kick the door down? It's been a long day."

The clerk hurriedly handed them two plastic cards, and a map of the hotel.

"Rooms 904 and 906, just take the elevator and turn left, you'll need to use your room key to select the ninth floor, and again on your doors. I presume you'll be paying with the card used to make the reservation?"

"Sure," replied Daria.

The two turned, and walked over to the elevators. Just as the doors began to open, she heard a familiar voice on the far side of the lobby.

"Kevvy, get down off that fountain now!" A girl's voice, as close to the sound of fingernails on a blackboard as was possible for human vocal cords to produce, shattered the quiet, stilling conversation throughout the lobby.

"Aww, Babe, I'm not going to fall in," replied a male voice.

Daria and Jane looked at each other, then across the lobby. Kevin Thompson, quarterback for the Lawndale High Lions, fully attired in his football uniform and shoulder pads, was standing on the rim of the fountain looking down at Brittany Taylor, his cheerleader girlfriend, also in uniform. Brittany, with her hands on her hips, scowled up at him.

"Dear God, where did they come from?" Daria asked Jane.

"That's what I wanted to know Monday, but what are you two doing here?" Another familiar voice asked, from the now open elevator.

They turned to see Jodie Landon, student council representative and general overachiever. A rare smile lit her face, the ivory of her teeth flashing against her dark skin. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, I need all the sane people I can find after a week around those two."

"Um, we're in town to visit museums this weekend. What are you doing here?" Daria replied.

"It's the school trip for the Lawndale Model Congress. We've been here since Sunday night. We saw the Senate in session today, and we're going to the Smithsonian tomorrow, and then there's a presidential reception at the Kennedy Center Saturday night."

"Okay, but where do Mr. and Mrs. Clueless fit in?" Jane asked, as Kevin lost his balance and fell into the fountain, splashing water over several nearby diners.

"Apparently, Ms. Li decided that the football team and cheerleaders should join us to represent a 'well-rounded student body' or some such nonsense. At least I get to see Mack, but I'm not sure it's worth the price. Those two," she pointed at Brittany, now helping a dripping Kevin from the fountain, "have been getting lost, separately or together, and otherwise causing havoc, all week. I think the hotel is about to ask us to leave." Jodie paused, considering the two standing in front of her. "Hey, have you guys eaten yet? I was just about to, and I don't want to wind up sharing a table with them."

"We're just going to freshen up and then eat," Jane replied. "If you get a table and order colas we'll be down in ten minutes."

"Perfect. I'll be over in the corner, away from the fountain."

Jodie walked off, and Jane and Daria stepped into the waiting elevator. Daria inserted her card-key into the slot next to the indicator for the ninth floor, and the doors closed.

"That's weird. Did you know they were here when you booked the rooms?" Jane asked.

"Are you kidding? I'd have found another hotel if I had. I came here to get away from school, not participate in some kind of field trip."

"Well, after encountering Barbie and Ken, the weekend can only improve," Jane said, smiling.

"I certainly hope you're right," said Daria, with a smirk, "I'm not sure I want to think about what could be worse."