“You really mean it?” Scott pressed the amber-eyed boy, whose tendency toward deception sowed doubt in his very consequential promise. “You’ll let me win against you? In an official challenge?”
Ernesto crossed his arms, looking very official. “Yes, yes, good catch, Scottie. I promise I’ll let you beat me in the next official challenge that we’re facing each other, not just some random offhand bet or something.”
That was all Scott needed to hear. Stuffed or not, this was exactly what Scott needed to get a leg up… and against the three older boys, he’d need as many legs up as he could get. The boy dove straight into the third slice, silencing the growing voice within himself that pled for him to please put the food down.
The bigger boys watched on curiously, eager to see if the younger member of their cohort could truly accomplish such a feat. He shoveled in bite after bite of the melty cheese as he focused only on avoiding another potential age penalty in his upcoming match against Ernesto; heck, maybe he’d even take first place in such a scenario and score himself an age up!
In almost no time at all, leaving Ernesto slack-jawed and even a bit concerned for the little boy, who looked about ready to burst, Scott had triumphantly scarfed down the final slice, banking himself a much-needed win, at least in so much as Ernesto’s word meant something.
“Well, well. I’m impressed, little Scottie.” Ernesto accompanied his praise with a slow clap. “I obviously wouldn’t have made the wager if I’d thought you actually had a chance.”
Jackson threw a light punch at Ernesto’s arm. “Hey, man, looks like you might be our smallest little dude pretty soon here.”
From behind, Kai planted his hands proudly on Scott’s shoulders. “Yeah, so you two might wanna think about being a little nicer to Scott, just so you’re returned the same favor if the tables do, indeed, turn.”
With such a cool guy like Kai watching out for him, young Scott felt like he could take on the world!... or at least take on the likes of the two opposing roommates… one a time, perhaps… or with Kai at his side.
Before he could be lulled into that sweet, comforting security of having a boy four years his senior going to bat for him, Scott tried to remind himself of Kai’s true intentions. Kai’s superiors had specifically instructed him to render the rival agent completely helpless… but Kai hadn’t seen the note. What if Kai’s original objective hadn’t included anything related to Scott? Then he’d be in the clear right?... But if that were case, then why would Kai have gone so far as to put Scott in a position with zero bargaining power? He’d basically been forced to agree when Kai offered up their unlikely partnership. If things went according to Kai’s proposed plan, then he would end up successful, walking out of here in his 30-year-old body with the tech in hand, ready to cash in the biggest paycheck of his career, while Scott would very likely be struggling to keep a diaper dry as he waited for Kai to reconvene as promised to restore his adulthood. Thinking of this, Scott realized that, today, he’d lost more years of his life than Kai had ever had. Kai had only just popped out into the world by the time Scott had started at the academy. His little boy brain could do little do dam his bubbling anger.
“Yeah!” He cried indignantly. “All of you,” Scott turned even to Kai, who quickly released the smaller boy, looking a bit stunned. “All of you better watch out around me!”
Accentuating his point, Scott stormed off. He at least had his adult sensibilities to remind him that making an enemy of Kai was not a winning gameplan, but his self-control seemed to have been ripped away from him with his years. Oh well… He could always play it off later, but this little outburst had provided him with a convenient opportunity to slip away and further explore the house, locked doors and all.
Returning to his room, Scott inconspicuously retrieved the camera-looping device from his nightstand. It was then that was reconfronted by the looming feeling that perhaps he’d gone a little bit too far with the pizza. The digestive discomfort was shadowed by an annoyance at the new limitations of his 8-year-old body; three slices would’ve been a mere appetizer back in his capable, dependable, 40-year-old body.
Suddenly, it seemed as though reconnaissance of the house could wait until his tummy troubles resolved. Replacing the device in the nightstand, Scott shoved it closed and lied down on his bed, a bit uncomfortably. The day had been so much already. He’d willingly handed over all of his post-pubertal development (and then some), had his ass handed to him twice over (being denuded in front of a live, international audience), been forced into a partnership with some corpo scumbag, trotted around in these juvenile cartoon briefs, scored himself a nasty bruise in an embarrassing attempt at retrieving a screwdriver, and had little recourse for all of these ills except for following Kai’s guidance.
Scott rolled over onto his other side, realizing that lying on his right shoulder would only exacerbate the pain. He was glad Kai hadn’t commented on the bruise downstairs. He didn’t need that asshole’s sympathy. Well, he probably hadn’t had much choice… ‘Oh hey, Scott! How’d ya get that bruise? Were you investigating NGA’s proprietary trade secrets too hard?’
The boy wanted nothing more than to forget all about today’s trials, to bail out of this mission right now, but there was no means of escape that would yield a return of his adulthood, save for winning or counting on Kai to win… Why had he agreed to this mission in the first place? Was it the promise of a promotion? The glory of having secured a miraculous feat of human engineering for the American people? Overconfidence? Despite the seemingly benign nature of this assignment, Scott had never felt so overwhelmed so quickly. He wasn’t the agent Redfield, decorated agency veteran with a decades-long career, who had walked into this assignment earlier today, he was a version of himself from before he could even spell “infiltration.”
Scott let his heavy eyelids shield him from the unpleasant rumbling of his very full tummy and from his own wallowing. He sunk cozily into the bed, finding it all too easy to forego his mission for some desperately desired shuteye.