How To Stop a Rocket Launch In Ten Minutes

"T-minus ten minutes till launch." A nasal voice informed me.

"Not helping, Jerry," I hissed back.

"It's not my job to help, it's my job to keep you informed and on task," Jerry backfired.

"Shut up and let me work, I'm going as fast as I can." I grumbled.

I realize I should probably explain, given whoever reading this may have a couple of questions. Honestly, if I was looking at what you're looking at, I'd have a few questions too. Starting with: what the heck is this Jerry dude talking about? And. Who is this charming narrator?

My name is Cordelia Morris and I work for the Illuminati. Jerry, is my faction's resident tech whiz and Star Trek geek. And until a couple weeks ago, the government saw us as nothing more than a couple of fools playing revolutionaries. That is, before they saw how much damage we actually caused. My job is to make that bit a little clearer. Anyway, back to the story.

"Hey, so how exactly do we know this whole thing isn't going to blow?" Another voice screeched in my ear.

"Jeez kid! Turn your mic down, you'll turn your brain, not to mention our ears, to mush!" Clyde's southern accent complained into my earpiece.

"Sorry," Locklan replied, voice quieter, "But seriously, how close to imminent death are we right now?"

"Well we're going to be a lot closer if both of you don't shut your traps!" I threatened, "Ow!" I swore as I recoiled my hand from the tangle of wires that was somehow called a control panel. Sometimes I really hated being a mechanic. I stuck my injured finger in my mouth, not like it would do anything, but it was better than letting my finger feel like it was burning.

"You okay Cords?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I continued, "Hey Locklan?"

"Yeah." The reply sounded a bit muffled and strained.

"How are we coming on that distraction?" I asked, taking another shot at the control panel. Of course it had to be my job to cancel the rocket launch then blow the control room to shreds. I'd kill to have Locklan's job the way things were going.

"Well," Locklan panted, "Considering there are alarms going off everywhere, about two dozen armed military guys on my tail, and I'm already halfway out of my ammo stash, I'd say things are going pret-ty good."

"Wow, who knew wonder boy could be so sarcastic." Clyde's crackled chuckled came through my earpiece.

"You know I can hear you right?" Locklan sounded very, very annoyed.

"Oh for Monarch's sake! Get a room you buffoons." I shouted into my earpiece, well, it's general direction at least.

I was so close. I turned my earpiece off so I could focus. This operation had to go right, it had to. We'd been working toward this moment for two years. Two years of taking out sadistic influential politicians. Two years of sabotaging deals and military test runs. Two years of waiting for the perfect moment to make a scene. Two years of hiding in the shadows.

I grabbed my wire cutters. I was chewing on my lip so hard I was surprised it wasn't bleeding. If I didn't cut the right wire, it wouldn't matter if I uploaded our prerecorded video or not, the rocket launch would go off without a hitch. Finally I reached out. And I cut the wire.

Silence. Shouldn't Jerry be watching this? Shouldn't he be saying something by now? Oh. Right. I turned my earpiece back on.

"Jerry," I was nearly hyperventilating, "Status update." Come on you bird-brained idiot, say something already!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to inform you that there will no longer be a creepy government rocket launch today." I could hear the smile in his voice. I let out a shaky sigh of relief. Locklan cheered into his earpiece.

"Holy Mother Mary! You better not be messing with me right now Georald," Clyde exclaimed, "Cords, get that video running!" He laughed. I laughed too. Adrenaline and exhilaration coursing through my veins.

"Yes, sir!" I grinned.

"How are we doing on time kid?" Clyde asked Locklan.

"Five minutes till reinforcements come in." Locklan replied. Shoot. We were still short on time. I plugged Jerry's USB into one of the computers and started the loading process.

"Come on, load." I whispered. It took three minutes to load, that's what Jerry had told me. Three minutes was starting to feel really long at the moment. I mean, couldn't the thing load any faster. A pair of footsteps coming down the hallway made me jump.

I whirled around, shoulders tensed, weapons at the ready. I had a handgun and a plasma-cord. Anakin Skywalker would've loved to have a plasma-cord, they were one of the most advanced weapons in the world and really similar to a light saber but they had electrocuting abilities. Stars, Cordelia! Focus!

The door flew open. I had been right, someone had finally thought to check the control room. Locklan hadn't been able to keep everyone on his tale. I turned my earpiece on record, just in case.

"Hey guys," I whispered to the crew, "My position's been compromised, get me when you can, I have to defend our video here. It's got two minutes to go, so wish me luck." Then, I turned to the soldiers.

"Hello, boys," I flashed a sparkling smile, "Come to play?"

One of them charged at me, with a vibrator of all things. I hated those stupid vibrating knives. A cut from on eof those was like being stuck in a blander and you were the smoothie. I dodged and nabbed the hand-gun on the soldier's side as he barreled past me. Before I could recover, I got kicked in the face. That, of course, sent me sprawling to the ground. Horsehairs that hurt. I really hoped I hadn't fractured any of my ribs.

I scrambled back to my feet before the soldier could land another kick. I retaliated with a punch to the gut. The soldier, who actually couldn't have been much older than I was, crumpled a little. I clenched my fists tighter. He recovered quickly and hit me square in the jaw. I stumbled back, wiping a drop of blood from the corner of my lip. I sneered. Then I attacked with the plasma-cord. I wrapped it around the soldier's neck as he came in for another hit.

He struggled. I used my elbow to knock him out cold once I had him relatively still. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the first soldier emerging from behind one of the computer desks. I guess he'd been busy getting back on his feet after he accidentally hit a wall charging me. He threw a couple of punches, pushing me back against a wall. I kicked my leg out, sending him back a few steps. Before he had time to recover I reached for my gun and shot him in the leg. Not lethal, but hurt like hell and kept him incapacitated. We both collapsed, me from exhaustion adn him from pain. After a moment, I struggled to my feet.

"Sorry," I apologized as he tried to bandage the wound, "But I got a job to do." I limped back over to the computer with the video-drive. Every breath hurt, I had definitely fractured a rib. The video had finished loading. I hit play. I watched Cap, our founder and leader, appear on the screen. Soon, everyone would know who he was.

I rubbed my side, hissing with pain. I would need to get that checked out. I looked around the control room, from the broken rocket panel to the glowing computer screen, to the two soldiers smart enough not to be fooled by Locklan's brilliant distractions. I suddenly felt my breaths become shaky.

I could've died. I could be dying right now from internal bleeding or something. I could be arrested in seconds. I was running out of time. That was a scary thought. My earpiece crackled to like, stopping my panicked thoughts in their tracks.

"Everybody pull out of there now!" It was Cap's stern, demanding voice, "Morris don't move, I'm having Aimery rendezvous with you."

"Aye, aye Cap," I responded. I wasn't sure why he always called us by our last names. I checked the time. Military reinforcements would be arriving by now. But that didn't matter. We'd done it. We'd stopped the rocket launch and uploaded the video that would put us on everyone's map.

We were tired. We were hurt. But today, we were victorious. Today, we'd go down in history as the people who made a change. I sighed. That was a stressful mission if I'd ever heard of one.

That's my story. That's how a rag-tag team of rebel not-so wannabes stopped a rocket launch that would've started a war. All while starting our own. Some day soon, you'll hear from us more. Maybe you'll become one of us. I hope so. We need more comedians at headquarters, oh, and help, we need lots of that.

My name is Cordelia Morris. And we are the Illuminati.