Max squirmed in Cameron Campbell's extremely tight safe, his hands stuck hugging his knees. He made a mental note to kick Neil's ass whenever he got out. That is, if he got out. How was he going to get out?

CLICK...!

CLANG...!

THUD...!

A few moments later, Max tumbled out of the safe and landed face-first onto the wooden floor. Shaking his head in disorientation, he glanced up to find a certain Russian spy towering above him. This certain Russian spy had platinum blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and rosy cheeks; she donned a green military jacket with red shoulder straps/cuffs over a dark grey dress with a green-and-red belt, grey boots with red straps and green camouflage socks, and a dark grey ushanka with a red star symbol. Max was far more concerned with her physical traits than her physical clothing. Ugh, damn her blonde hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks – especially the rosy cheeks. Jesus Christ, Max, she tried to kill you for Christ's sake! Don't fall for Russian sleeper agents! Very bad things will happen!

Very!

"Ugh, thanks," Max rubbed his head as Vera helped him up, "God, is it already nighttime?"

"Yes, Max," Vera confirmed, "Everybody is already sleeping in their tents."

"Everybody but you?"

"Everybody except us."

Vera glanced outside the cabin and smirked to herself. "And is perfect timing, too..."

The smile in question didn't go unnoticed by Max, who frowned and crossed his arms. "What are you playing at here?"

It continued to grow increasingly wider, even more than that of the Cheshire Cat's. Turning to Max, Vera calmed herself before responding.

"Come with me, Max. I wish to show you something."


The two of them were deep in the forest now, a result of Vera's request to "gaze at the midnight moon". Max didn't feel like declining her solicitation, primarily because of the reasoning that rejecting something made by a secret agent man (or woman, in this case) wasn't exactly the smartest move. That, and Neil had denied him the prize of free ice cream because abandoning their team or something like that. It wasn't his fault that he unknowingly allied himself with international spies masquerading as foreign exchange campers; how was he supposed to know at first?

Then again, they had no idea either.

"Here," Max heard Vera finally say after what seemed to be an eternity. Upon seeing her taking a seat near the ledge of the cliff they were standing on, he decided to do so as well. The rest of the remaining minutes before the ensuing chaos were nothing short of...blissful, for lack of a better term. Honestly, after taking a look himself, he really couldn't argue with her: The midnight moon was indeed worth gazing at. But why this request of all things? Maybe she just haven't seen a "midnight moon" before and wanted to mark her first sighting of it, or maybe – had she seen one before – she had gotten addicted to the sight and wished to mark her...89th sighting of it.

Little did he know...

"You're probably wondering why I asked you this strange request and to accompany me, yes?"

Max turned to face Vera, looking at her for a moment's notice before replying, "I am."

That equally strange smirk from the cabin returned with a vengeance before she stood up and removed her fur cap. "You know something, Max? What I love about the midnight moon is this – its reflection onto the blue lake."

And then her jacket...

...and then her dress...

...and then her boots...

...and then her socks...

...and finally her undergarments.

All the while, Max looked on in uncharacteristic shock. So...that's why she requested his presence.

"Is good for an evening swim, no?"

"... Yes?"

Vera chuckled and leapt down with the proper diving position into the lake while Max watched on. His mouth completely agape, he was still having trouble recovering from the initial shock of seeing a girl his age naked. The worst part besides eyeing the handgun hidden within her jacket?

She wasn't the first girl he saw in the nude.

"Well? Are you joining me or not?"

The voice of Vera brought Max back into reality as he glanced down to find her swimming laps with a stupid grin plastered on her face. It wasn't the same smirk from the cabin this time, though. It was a genuine smile of pure joy. Well...one little swim couldn't possibly hurt him, right?

"Well...what have I got to lose?"

Eventually, he mustered up the courage to strip down to his birthday suit as well. First his hoodie, second his shirt, then his pants, next his shoes, and finally his shoes. He felt naked in the figurative sense. Hesitation began swirling in his stomach again before it was replaced by courage again, leaping down from the cliff and into the water below. When he ascended to the surface, he spewed out forest fluid from his mouth and proceeded to cough uncontrollably, eliciting a not-so-subtle giggle from the camper spy. He shot her a glare in response,

"Hey! It's not easy diving 20 feet from a cliff and into the lake! You try doing it!"

"I just did...and it was easy for me."

Max huffed and gave up arguing with Vera very quickly. He merely decided to let the retort slide and enjoy the lake with someone he actually tolerated (to an extent). Finally, a sense of relief.

. . .

. . .

. . .

However, that didn't mean Neil was going to be let off easy after what he did to him.


A/N: The second chapter will be much crazier (and longer) in comparison to this one, this I promise you. Seriously, it isn't called "Midnight Run" for nothing, right?