An Airborne Test of Loyalty

"It will be fine."

Henry had said those words to him, time and time again. It was a lie, of course. Everything was not fine...But John did not want to tell him that.

The Agency was supposed to be the place where they would be safe- The place where they could find answers, where they could finally have a chance to live happily ever after. Henry was so excited, so full of hope when they first arrived at the Agency's headquarters. Back then, John remembered how he had felt the same- But now, he didn't know if it was worth it anymore.

They were sitting in their office, which was located in the basement of the Agency headquarters. They were lucky enough to have an office for themselves by one of the walls. Everyone else had to share with whoever else wanted to occupy their cubicle and desk with them, but as far as John knew, no one really cared about that anyways- After all, everyone had their own things to take care of. This wasn't a vacation destination.

They were trying to track down some 'informants' today- People who could give them important information regarding the criminals they were hunting down. As far as John knew, these informants were...Well, let's just say that they had no choice but to talk. They were either forced into doing this or paid for this information...Either way, all he cared about was how he and Henry could finally get some leads on the criminals they were tracking down.

"I don't know why we need these informants so badly," Henry grumbled as he sipped his coffee from his mug in frustration. "We've been working on this case for over a month now- Why do we need more information?"

John frowned at Henry's question- He had asked himself similar questions countless times...After all, he couldn't understand why they needed these informants in the first place when they already had their eyes on these criminals 24/7. They knew everything about them- Their habits, their secret hideouts, their family members, what they ate for breakfast every morning...Hell, John even knew what brand of condoms they used! And yet...These idiots still tried so hard to keep up their charades like nothing was wrong! It made absolutely no sense!

"What are we supposed to do with all this information?" John asked out loud without thinking about it. "We know everything about them! Why are we wasting our time here?!"

Henry stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Have you gone nuts?" He asked slowly as he set his mug down onto his desk carefully. "What are you talking about? We're still learning new things about these guys everyday!" He said quickly before clearing his throat. "Besides...we're just doing our jobs." He smiled softly at John before turning away from him and taking out a folder from one of his drawers next to him. "Look at this guy-" He flipped through several pages within the folder before showing John a single picture where a man glared at the camera while being surrounded by many other people-"This guy is one of the main leaders of this human trafficking ring we're hunting down right now."

"He looks like any other guy," John remarked uninterestedly as he took the picture from Henry's hands and glanced at it briefly before putting it back onto Henry's desk and looking away from it. "He looks like anyone else you see on the streets every day."

"Exactly!" Henry replied excitedly as he leaned forward towards where John was sitting across from him and putting his hands onto his table excitedly. "That is exactly why we need more information!" He exclaimed dramatically as if telling John something extremely important before standing up from his seat and returning to his side of the table once more and sitting down into his chair carefully as if not wanting to break anything there accidentally while speaking with enthusiasm once more. "You see? This is exactly why we need these informants." He explained quickly before giving John a quick glance before continuing on with his explanation patiently like any good teacher should do when explaining something important to their student- A skill that Henry surely mastered long ago during college or high school or wherever it was when he studied how to handle children back then or wherever it was where that skill came in handy for him later on in life or whatever happened in between then and now that allowed him to use such skills whenever necessary; because right now, this skill came in quite handy for him since he needed someone smarter than him around here for him to explain things properly when explaining something important didn't seem to work very well for him most times recently...And considering how long ago it was since someone last showed up here who seemed smarter than him around here (and by someone, he meant John), it seemed like it would take quite some time until someone smarter than him showed up again around here; which meant that until then, he would have no choice but to explain things himself...Unless maybe there were some hidden geniuses running around here somewhere who might not be working here yet but might be working here soon; but unfortunately for Henry, no matter how much money he spent on hiring people who could hire people who could find people who might potentially become geniuses whose talents would help them solve difficult cases like this one easily someday soon so that they could become part of their team who would solve such difficult cases easily whenever necessary; none of those people ever decided to show up here anytime soon despite how much money he spent on those people who could find those potential geniuses whose talents would help them solve difficult cases like this one easily someday soon so that they could become part of their team who would solve such difficult cases easily whenever necessary; forcing Henry into using his own brain sometimes instead of using other people's brains whenever possible (which also lead directly into what happened earlier today).