Second Adventure (AWC Sequel)

Andrea's Mind

Everyone looked at the five-six feet girl walking down the stairs from above the training room. She was calm, calmer than anyone else who was about to be seated on the chair in the middle and had their brains racked because of how tricky the shuffling of cards was.

She sat on the chair and stared at the screen. The cards will first shuffle multiple times before it stopped and showed the figure for fifteen seconds before the cards turn their back again and her time to guess. The shuffling started, she didn't look at it first, she realized that this shuffling of cards was one strategy of the agents to make them dizzy and eventually fail to focus.

She looked down, and her action made the agent who was leading them smirk, she had expected a lot from this girl named Andrea. Upon checking the statistics of the trainees, this girl was never left behind, she was always at the top three. She also heard that she was Hermes' favorite, the girl that would come after his daughter Dahlia, who was, by the way, like her, a smart one too.

When Andrea was sure now that the shuffling had ceased, she immediately looked up and stared at the screen, since it was only eight cards, she just needed one look and she already knew where every pair were. The cards laid in front of her in two rows, four columns.

"Hearts, upper left, the downward middle one. Spade, upper-middle two, upper right. Diamonds, the upper-middle one, downward left. Clover, downward right, downward middle two."

Whistles were heard, Andrea didn't even wait for the agent the signal to start and started right away without a stop. She was firm and sure of her answers, very unlikely of those who were before her who were stopping in the middle to think if they were sure or not.

The cards showed and revealed the answers. The agent nodded and raised her thumbs up, "Perfect. Next."

"Wait up," she uttered, raising her hand upon seeing only four cards were added.

All of them looked at her in curiosity, even Dale who was watching from her laptop in her office while reading the letters sent to them stopped from sorting the tasks and looked at her laptop, the girl really caught her attention.

"What is it?" the agent asked, brow raised and interested in whatever this girl was thinking.

"I wonder if I can advance into the thirty-six cards now? I think my mind can manage," she requested, staring straight to the woman's eyes to tell her that she was being serious and she wouldn't start guessing unless it was already thirty-six cards in front of her.

"Wouldn't it be unfair to the others?" she unsurely asked, looking up at the other trainees, "What do you think? Would you let her?"

"I mean," Lance spoke from where he was, "You only get us through little by little to determine until when our mind could handle, right? Let's see if she could pass it in one go. If not, then I guess that's when she has to do over."

Everyone agreed to Lance, and even Andrea nodded at him. She looked at the agent, waiting for her response, and when she shrugged, she knew she would agree.

"Okay, let's skip the other parts and see if you can do it," she uttered, motioning the agent controlling the projector to do it.

Andrea looked around and nodded at Lance, in particular, to thank him for the chance. Then she looked on the floor when the shuffling of cards started, she waited for five seconds until the shuffling stopped, and now her time to stare at the figures. She was now given twenty seconds to stare and study the positions of the partners.

Everyone was extremely silent, instead of looking at the cards, they were staring at Andrea and how serious she was. This one indeed needed focus, and she was doing it pretty well. Her eyes were moving from up to the end downward, repeating it until the last column, and upon finding that there was still time left, she went over, now side to side.

"Five seconds."

Andrea's mouth was moving, but she herself remained fixed. She really was taking this test seriously, whatever she had in mind as the request to ask to the agency must have been something important to her. Until the time was up and the cards turned back was the only time when she relaxed, her back slumped and massaged her head for a moment, closing her eyes and back again with focusing on the cards before her.

"Which one do you want to open-"

"Queen, first row-first column, third row-sixth column. Clouds, first row-second column, fifth row-second column. Gates, third row-first column, sixth row-sixth column. Dog, fourth row-fifth column, second row-third column."

She went on like that, she was speaking so fast and the turn of the cards was as fast as her words, she wasn't even thinking twice of her answers like she had this Xray vision eyes that could see what was behind the cards as she was so sure of her answers that it looked impossible at all.

"She got a whole different mind," Leira uttered in awe of Andrea's continuous answers. The girl wasn't even blinking nor stopping even for a single second. She was only staring at the screen, picking random cards and whatever it showed would pick its pair immediately. She was downright awesome.

"I think if not agent, she would be a scientist of the sort," Hera remarked, mindblown at how smart her roommate actually was. She always saw her on her laptop, typing whatever that she didn't bother putting her nose onto, she was also not that silent, she could go along with her stories and could joke with her. She adapted well to her surroundings.

They watched as the cards rapidly turned from all turned back then to revealing the figures one by one depending on how fast Andrea spoke. The regular agents watching were amazed, only the top agents could do this, or even she could top them with how fast she was going. When it comes to this task, only Dale and Sean could do it this fast, and even Sean was a little slower and was making sure of it, but Andrea was of Dale's level.

And the top agent herself know and could witness it right now, she was fascinated, all her eyes now focused on the screen and the volume of her earpiece was high to clearly hear her. She thought she was even faster than her when she tried that, and not to mention that she only nailed it on her third try while this girl was only at her first and not to mention her first month of training.

"This girl really is something," she told to herself, seeing as the unturned cards became only four left.

"Vines, fifth row-sixth column. Roots, Second row-sixth column," Andrea finished and watched as the cards turned according to what she said. Her smile widened upon seeing that she got it all right, she sighed in relief, patting herself on her thigh and mentally praising her brain for remembering every picture.

"Thirty-six out of thirty-six in two minutes, faster than the top agents and overall the fastest record in the history of Themis Agency. Impressive!" the agent exclaimed, clapping her hands in fascination. The other agents and the trainees also clapped and even yelled praises at her.

Andrea could only huff and sigh at the attention, she only gave them a small smile before walking to the side where Hera and Leira were, smiling at her proudly. Since she was the last on the long list, it was one good start to

"Congrats, you're so cool!" Hera congratulated, throwing her arms to the girl as soon as she was seated beside her, "You should have taught me your ways so I could also have the wish and wish for a whole month's rest."

"Andrea knew it and she doesn't tolerate lazy bugs so she didn't bother," Leira shot back, uncrossing her arms, peering to Andrea, "What will be your wish by the way?"

The agent also asked that as soon as Leira inquired, the others waited for her answer, expecting a request of vacation, a week-long full meat meal three times a day, a day out of the agency and unwind outside that they couldn't do now and for the following months or anything that would please her out of the exhausting training right now. However, her request came off as simple.

"I want a brand new laptop, I don't care if it's not the latest, I just want something that can do a lot like programming, hacking, creating walls and links, even inventing. That's all that I want, a new one because my old, crappy one was already useless, it shuts down if the charger loosens."

Dale chuckled from the other side, she never experienced that since her father always make sure that her things were new and functional still, he never wanted her to use a laptop like what she described as 'crappy' because that'

was where she was training before. But she could relate to her love for programming, hacking, inventing attacks in computers, and basically anything that could do on a desktop.

So she did it for her, she took her phone and messaged the agent handling them.

The agent looked at her phone, almost becoming alarmed upon seeing that it was Agent Green who usually messaged regarding tasks, but upon reading the statement, she relaxed and smiled widely.

"Andrea, the top agent is watching and is in awe of your skills so she will grant your wish, you can have another one though since I will personally have this wish granted this time."

The trainees expressed their jealousy, wanting to redo their task and win because of the two wishes granted to her.

Andrea scrunched her nose, not knowing what she wanted since she only thought of the new laptop and used her old one as her motivation so having that one free and having another one wish, she had no idea what.

Then she looked at the other trainees, they looked exhausted and hungry, and since she got one for herself now, why not give the other one to the others, right?

"Well, uh, I think a day of rest day and a day full of food? Not only for me but for all of us," she requested, hearing them all cheered in delight with her request.

Apparently, once again, the top agent was pleased. She did not only thought of herself but of others too. One that most people didn't have as they all thought of their selves alone to brag and flaunt to others that she won and they should do well next time so they could be like her. But no, she remained humble.

"She would be a good leader."