The Prank war continues
"Alexandria Woods!"
"Luna Sophie Woods!"
Lexa was awoken by the screams of her siblings. She was sleeping peacefully one moment, and the next she was sitting upright, confused about what was happening. Until she finally remembered what Luna and she did the night before.
She quickly got out of bed and ran down one set of stairs to find Lincoln, Luna, and Anya standing in the hallway. Luna had to hold herself up; she was doubled over laughing. Lincoln and Anya were both drenched in water and glaring at the twins.
"Why are you guys so loud at seven in the morning?" Chase asked, walking out of his room with a headset around his neck. He was probably still gaming; he always pulled all-nighters at weekends.
Once he saw the state of his mother and his uncle, he began laughing and doing the same thing as his aunt. Lexa snorted at his reaction and began laughing as well. Lincoln and Anya were furious; their clothes were dripping wet, and Anya’s hair wasn’t spared; it was drenching.
"I’m not cleaning that up," Anya stated, crossing her arms before her chest.
"Why did you guys do that, and why didn’t we guys get a notification when you entered the house?" Lincoln asked.
"This…" Luna tried to form a sentence without laughing. "This... is payback for the constant mocking when we have to attend a stupid gala or event for the military."
"And you didn’t get a notification when we entered because we scaled the building and got through the window of my bedroom," Lexa answered. "There is a security gap that needs to be fixed."
Luna and Chase had calmed down and were making jokes about the two others. "Who’s cleaning our rooms now?" Lincoln asked.
"You do that yourself," Lexa answered, looking at him. "You can just make your son do it," she told Anya when she turned to her.
"No, mum I have been up all night; please don’t make me clean your room", he begged.
"Well, you still owe me, and it was your choice to stay up all night," Anya told him, still grumpy about this whole morning. "Also, you laughed at me. You laugh, you clean."
"But Auntie Lu laughed as well and did the prank; why doesn’t she have to clean your room?" Chase tried.
"Auntie Lu is going to clean Lincoln’s room," Anya stated.
"Wait, what?" Luna asked, confused. "Why not Lexa?"
"Lexa is going to make us a nice big breakfast, isn’t that right, my dear sister", Lincoln said, wrapping his arm around Lexa and making her clothes wet.
She pushed him away and rolled her eyes. She left the others to argue over who was going to clean up what and went into the kitchen. She found her "punishment" a bit ridiculous since she would have made breakfast anyway. She always does the cooking part.
Lincoln once managed to burn rice, and Luna once managed to make something slimy out of noodles, and she didn’t even want to start with Anya; she wasn’t allowed near the kitchen anymore. She once burned down the kitchen when Lexa was fifteen. She blamed the cough they had, but everyone knew that it was Anya’s fault.
She was just finished with the eggs when Lincoln and Anya joined after having showered. They tried to help and cook the bacon, but Lexa banned them from the kitchen and took it upon themselves to set the table.
By the time Lexa finished with breakfast, Luna and Chase came down the stairs and sat down at the table. They started eating, and a bit of small talk started.
"When do you guys leave again?" Chase asked, not looking up from his plate.
It was a rather sensitive subject when it came to work. It wasn’t easy for him to accept that everyone in his family had a dangerous job and that everyone would not come home one day. All four adults joined the military straight out of high school and never thought of doing anything else. Considering that they were not allowed to leave the military behind unless the conditions on their contract were fulfilled,
"We’ll be home for longer this time", Anya took her son's hand and looked at Lexa for confirmation. Lexa nodded and smiled at her sister.
"We’re actually getting a new teammate," Lexa announced, and everyone turned to her, confused. "The General didn’t want me to tell you guys yet, but I think it is better to be prepared than jumping in the cold water."
"Why?" "Who?" Lincoln and Luna asked at the same time.
"Her name is Raven Reyes; she will join us straight out of BC, and that’s because the general thinks that we need someone that knows technology better than us, and she’s also specialized in explosives."
"What a great newbie! Do we have to train her as well?" Anya sighed.
"I’m afraid so, and it starts tomorrow," Lexa announced, and Luna groaned.
"But you don’t have to leave the country for a while, right?" Chase asked, looking at his mother.
"No, sweetheart. We’ll train the newbie at the base, and this takes a bit. If, and I say if because I can’t promise anything, everything goes well, we will not leave for the next six months."
Chase’s mood immediately picked up, and he excitedly talked about his school projects, while the others asked questions and listened carefully to what the young boy had to say.
Lexa and the other three had a difficult time growing up. She was so happy to see that this boy had a better chance at becoming a responsible adult. He didn’t even have a father; well, he has a father, but he has never met him. Anya had a one-night stand, which resulted in her getting pregnant and not wanting to abort. He may not have a father, but he has a loving mother, an uncle that did everything a dad would, a crazy aunt that taught him to commit crimes without leaving a trace, and another aunt who he saw as his best friend.
They finished eating, and Lexa got a message from the general's secretary. He wanted to have a video conference with her in twenty minutes. She tried to help the others with washing the dishes, but this time she was banned from the kitchen to get presentable for the general.
She reluctantly went upstairs and threw on her home office outfit. It consisted of an all-black suit with a traditional military low bun, this time not with gel since Lexa wasn’t on base but in her own house. She finished dressing quickly and had a few minutes to spare.
She logged into her computer and decided to send the camera footage into the group chat. She instantly received laughing emojis from Luna and red-faced ones from Anya and Lincoln. She never really expressed her feelings with the help of emojis, but her siblings tend to use them instead of words.
"Good morning, Captain," the general started as soon as Lexa answered the call. "Thank you for this last-minute call."
"Morning, no problem, General," Lexa answered.
"I don’t want to lose any time here. As you know, your unit is getting a new addition. I want you to train her for the next few months and have her perform on the next open house of the base. You’ll show the families, and in this case, the president, what you can do and how well you and your unit perform in counterterrorism. When you perform in front of civilians, you will only show the basic doings of the military, basically everything that is shown in movies, and you will do it the right way. When performing for the president, you show him what your unit can do and why the unit should proceed on the goal that was set for you."
Lexa listened to the general explain what her unit had to train towards and disagreed with everything. She didn’t like the idea of having a new trainee, showing the public how they work, and especially being the puppets in a private show for the president. She hated it when she was pulled away from the real problem and had to play pretend.
"Any questions?" the general asked.
"No, sir," Lexa answered.
"Well then, I expect you to start training tomorrow. I will send you the details on your new trainee. Enjoy your Sunday," the general said. He didn’t waste time to even wait for Lexa to answer; he just hung up.
Lexa sighed and braced her arms on the desk. She put her head in her hands and took a few deep breaths. Training someone entirely new to the field is the worst thing ever. Having someone on the team who hasn’t been in a life-or-death situation is dangerous for everyone. Training doesn’t test your fight-or-flight responses. Nothing can compare to a battle situation.
Someone knocked on the door, and Lexa looked up. "Come in," she answered.
Chase entered the room and threw himself on the couch in the corner of the room. It took a few seconds before he began to talk. Lexa looked at him expectantly.
"I have a question," he began. "I must present my family and what my family does. I already talked to my mom about it. I have to present what you do, and I was wondering if y’all could come to the class on this day and explain a few things. Grandma is going to be there, and you know I’ll get extra credit for everyone that shows up.
"Of course we’ll show up," Lexa interrupted her nephew and smiled at him. "When is it, and what do you want us to talk about?"
"It’s in like three months, I think; it is a bigger project, and I’ll have to do most of the talking; you just stand there, preferably in your uniform, and tell a cool story from your years of service."
Lexa grabbed her calendar and checked if herself and the others would still be home or if the day of the open house had ended and they would be sent overseas.
"Around that time, the base actually has an open house event where soldiers’ families, friends, and the public can visit and watch some of us work; maybe I can arrange a tour for your class, and you could present in one of the meeting rooms on base", Lexa suggested.
Chase thought about it, and Lexa knew that the school had to accept the offer, everything had to go through the parents, and all the questions had to be clarified.
"I mean, I could ask, and it would be cool to actually see it then, but I’m not sure the school is going to approve of it," Chase told her.
"I’ll tell you what," Lexa said, standing up to go around the desk. "I’ll call the school tomorrow and clear everything. I’m also going to check in with the on-base commander to make your trip as cheap as possible, and you only have to make your presentation."
Chase looked at her with a big smile, jumped forward, and hugged her. He thanked her for the opportunity and how that would get him a big plus on his grade. Hugging him back, she began walking in the direction of the door.
"We’re also going for a run now," she told him, and he tried to get free and avoid the run.
"Noooo, please don’t torture me", he whined, realizing the trap he was in.
"Go get the others; we’re doing a family run," Lexa told him. "I’ll buy you the new game if you get everyone on board."
"The new game doesn’t mean much if I don’t have the console," he countered.
"Maybe if you behave, it will appear sooner rather than later", Lexa smirked at him.
"Wait, did you buy me the console and the game I wanted?", Chase broke free, thanks to Lexa letting him go.
Lexa kept the smirk on her face and only turned around and walked towards her bedroom to change for the run. Chase was heard in the background running through the house and trying to find the others to get them to join the run.
She changed into her running shorts and a t-shirt and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She walked down the stairs and got the dogs ready to run with them. They usually didn’t run all together, but sometimes they all enjoyed a nice run, and they laughed and joked the whole time during one of those rare runs.
Lexa was usually running alone if she managed two times a day. She always took the dogs to make sure they had their exercise, and sometimes she was joined by her brother or sisters. Every now and then Chase joined her; when he wasn’t gaming or doing homework, he enjoyed a quiet run with her.
Not five minutes later, the whole house was ready to run, and Lexa had to admit that not even she could’ve gotten all of them in running clothes downstairs in five minutes. They ran for about an hour and enjoyed the rest of the day together.