Agent X

Stakeouts and showtime

So, he got up and slowly followed an innocent-looking customer to the bathroom. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the guy take a completely different route and head over to the shop"s storage room.

He waited behind a corner and saw him look at the room through the glass on the top of the door, before apparently deciding no one was there with a slight nod of the head.

The guy carefully pushed the door open and entered the room. X slipped in behind him when there was enough distance between them. But as soon as he got in, he realised that the room was completely empty.

"What in the.." X muttered to himself as he quietly scouted the room, but it was crystal clear. The mysterious guy had completely disappeared. He ran his hands over the walls for any hidden passageway, but nothing turned up. So he first went around the room and placed many hidden cameras all over the place.

Then he hid behind a stack of cardboard boxes in anticipation of the next person to enter. When someone came in, a woman, he tensed up and watched with bated breath as she carefully looked around to make sure no one was present in the room.

He allowed himself a slight swell of pride when she completely missed him and began walking towards a corner of the wall. She stood on a particular tile after careful deliberation and just disappeared. Poof. Without a trace.

X rubbed his eyes in shock and stared at the spot. He'd just been there, and then he'd vanished in the blink of an eye. So weird.

He lay there in anticipation, but no one else was coming in any more. With a start, he realised that he had to get his bee here to figure things out more clearly. So with a determined nod, he stepped out of the boxes and hurried towards the HQ.

On reaching there, he gave a hurried greeting to Hacker before plopping down on the chair and hurriedly spilling everything that happened. She listened with rapt attention, and as soon as he was done, she pushed the bee into his hands and pulled him to his feet again.

"Okay, so you're going to go in there again, with the bee this time, and get as many leads as possible to figure this thing out."

X nodded, not even protesting in the slightest as he operated the bee from his screen and obediently followed in its wake. This time Hacker made sure to send him off with proper earpieces so they could keep in touch.

Quite a few people on the way flinched at the sight of the oncoming bee, making them laugh. "You'd have thought a whole group of highly trained operatives wouldn't get scared of something as silly as a bee." X remarked with a languid tone. He heard Hacker give a dramatic "humph" over the earpiece.

X chuckled slightly and turned back to the camera. The bee was almost at the coffee shop. Even Hacker was completely silent in anticipation. This continued for a while longer, after which the coffee shop came into view.

Luckily, it still wasn't very crowded, it being working time for most people, so the bee could roam freely without the fear of being smacked down with a broom by a paranoid person, which of course wouldn't happen anyway with X right behind it.

X settled it down on an overhead wooden raft, where they could survey everyone safely from a distance. When landing, X audibly marvelled at the increased flexibility of the drone. Hacker noted his impressed tone and tapped her own shoulder proudly.

"I would love to see all the changes you made later on." X chuckled. Hacker grinned, took off an imaginary hat and made a sweeping bow to an imagined audience. "Why sir, you are too kind." She proclaimed in a dramatic tone.