A Coup Of Sorts (Chapter One)

They were trapped. Both sides barricaded with impenetrable boards that slowly closed in on them. They were stuck. Nowhere to go. Not to mention the fact that two people were squished together in an enclosed room that was shrinking with every wasted second. If you think about, the situation would've been a perfect romantic ending, where the main character finally kisses their lover because the love between them grew too much. Except rom coms don't typically end in life-threatening situations. Well, the Titanic sank, and Jack died, but that wasn't really much of a comedy… Moving swiftly along. Their bodies pressed against each other’s. Personal space didn't matter at the moment. This was a life or death situation, not the time to confess love. Although that would be great. Quinn kind of liked this kid, and hoped he had felt the same, but now was not the time. They were about to be compacted into a cube of human remains, and no one wanted that. "What do we do? What plan do you have?" Keith asked, urgency in every quivering breath.

"You always think I'm the one with the plan. You know what? Maybe there are times where I don't have a plan, and you need to think of one on your own." He was quite done with being the plan maker. Keith smirked.
"Good, because I have a plan," Keith said confidently. He grabbed a Swiss army knife out of his pocket (where did that come from?) and he asked him for a bobby pin.

"Just because I had a bobby pin that one time, doesn't mean-" interrupting him, a bobby pin fell out of Quinn's shirt pocket. "Okay, you got me. Take it."

Keith bent down, finding a way to grab it through the tiny space they were left with. Fumbling with the Swiss army knife and the pin, he found the panel that covered the control board and shoved the pin and knife into the lock. After a few minutes of fumbling, he opened the panel and cut off the power, stopping the walls closing in on them. "Thanks for not being a total jerk," Keith said, emerald eyes hidden by the squint of his smile. Quinn smiled, too. They were so close to each other, noses only a few centimeters apart.

"Who said your life was the one I was concerned about?" Quinn snickered awkwardly, because Keith's life was what he was more concerned about, in all honesty. Quinn snapped back into reality. "Okay. We stopped the walls, but how do we get out?" Keith's smile shrank. Right. Escaping. How were they going to do that? There were no doors or other locked panels they could" crawl through. Only black walls and wooden panels. Through the silence, a buzzing came from the ceiling. A circle of sparks had formed through the black metal, opening up the inside of said circle. Faces covered by mechanical masks looked down at them.

"That seems to be our way out," whispered Keith. Quinn looked at him, saying "Obviously" with his face. The two men in the masks didn't seem to be overly aggressive about finding two 17-year-old boys in their trash compactor. In fact, they seemed a little amused. Of course, neither of them could tell because of the masks covering the entirety of their faces. The men let down a rope from the hole, extending down to the small patch of floor next to both of them. Quinn has assumed that this was an invitation to climb it, so he grabbed the rope and began climbing (with some assistance from Keith). After he was helped onto the ceiling, Keith came in behind him. They both sat there, glad that they both got out safely. They were in a hallway covered floor to ceiling in pure white. There was nothing except for automated doors and a few posters saying, "If you are found breaking the law..." or "Remember the rules of our founders!" This was all very interesting and raised a few questions in both of their heads, but there was one question they were both asking: Who are these people?

Through the silence, a quieted, automated voice came from one of the masked men. "Hello, Quinn Smith and Keith Scott. We are the Spies and Military Coup Association and our mission was to retrieve you both from this facility and bring you to headquarters. There are a few things we must go over in order for this to be as productive as possible."