Agent X

Lookalikes and new inventions

Hacker wiggled her eyebrows. 'Oh, I was hoping you'd say that. Check this out.' She clicked around on the screen till she came up with what she wanted them to see.

It was a video of surveillance footage, taken around a month ago. It was from.. 'ACE. You got previous video surveillance from ACE's own database.' X voiced both their thoughts. 'Pretty impressive. But how did you do that? And when?'

Hacker wiggled her eyebrows in response. 'It was on the ride home. You were in such a hurry to get back that you didn't even notice me pull out my device and hack into Panda's system. Then, I looked around to see if he had any direct or indirect link with the surveillance team. And I was right! He'd been in contact with one of them for discussing the guard schedule for the team. Then it was a simple matter to thread through the guard's ID and get into the database where all the footage was stored. I estimated around when the video would play what I need, and voila!'

Sheaf patted her shoulder appreciatively. 'Good job. You've done really well.' Hacker beamed, then played the video. It was a shot of some guy bringing in two women along with him, both of whom were walking behind him with almost invisible chains around their arms. He'd stepped into ACE the same way X had seen other agents do.

'So what I found out was that if anyone is authorized to enter, they can bring in someone under their authority. Of course, it'll be followed up later, but in our case, we don't have to worry about that little hurdle. X'll only need that rule when he smuggles the hostages out.' Hacker explained with a flourish, bouncing slightly up and down eagerly.

'Yeah, that's good.' X acknowledged, nodding. 'Can you get the guard's schedule, so we can plan accordingly?'

Hacker nodded and dug around for a bit before unveiling the mysterious guard's entry and exit times.

'Look. The guy is in the second guard batch, with afternoon shifts that start at four pm sharp. So, he usually checks in at around 3:40 - 45 pm and checks out at-'

'The checkout isn't important. But this is gold. If we intercept him at 3:40 when he's about to enter, and X takes on his form, then he could get in at 3:45, after completing all the scans Which means, he has around five minutes to get to the weapons room. At 3:50, the guards shift, and there's a gap of ten minutes, right? That's when X retrieves the VX. This hopefully takes no more time than ten minutes. Then he goes to free the hostages from the basement room. He gathers them up, bursts out of the place, and escapes heroically.' Sheaf finally ended his winded explanation with a dramatic flourish.

X laughed. 'You make it sound so easy, Sheaf. There are so many variables involved. But this plan is very solid. I can spend time finalizing the details, all the tools I'll need for the operation, the escape transport, etc.'

'Oh right! I forgot about that!' Sheaf exclaimed, slapping his forehead. 'Imagine, you running out with all those captured hostages, bravely fending for them till you reach out, only to find out that you're technically stranded there.' He laughed.

'Yeah, yeah. Lucky we remembered now, or it wouldn't be so funny when we find ourselves in that spot.' X replied. 'So, I'll be needing one of those large cars, capable of taking quite a few passengers. No getaway driver, though. I've always trusted myself alone with the task of getting away from dangerous situations.'

Hacker found that slightly risky, but if X had managed fine on his own till now, then it shouldn't be a problem. 'Then there's just one last thing to discuss. How you're gonna fool the biometric scanners and get in without raising suspicion.'

X and Sheaf tilted their heads. Then they looked at each other and shook their heads. 'Do you have any ideas, Hacker?'

Hacker grinned. 'I was hoping you would say that. You see, there is a little project I was working on. Wait, I'll show it to you.' She said in her characteristic mystery and rushed to a drawer and pulled something out. 'This,' she said proudly, holding the device up, 'Is the answer to all your problems!'

'And it is?' X asked, already used to her theatrics.

Hacker shook her head and turned it towards herself. She pressed a button and a laser shot through the device, completely scanning her entire body. It took a few seconds for the device to carefully imprint her biodata. When it was done, the laser shut with a cute bleep.

'Now for the really fun part. So, everyone, you know my phone is activated through touch alone, right?' they nodded. 'And neither X nor Sheaf can access it, right?' He nodded again. 'Okay, then.'

Hacker pointed her device at Sheaf and it sent out laser beams again. Only this time, they were blue instead of red. It completed its scan and dropped something into Hacker's expectant hand. She grinned, set the device down, and grabbed Sheaf's hand.

Sheaf tilted his head as she fitted something onto his right thumb and stepped back. Sheaf flexed his hand and turned his wrist. 'What was that?'

But X had a pretty good idea of what it was. 'It's a device for fooling the biometrics, isn't it?' Hacker bounced and clapped her hands excitedly. 'Yes, yes, it is! It's something I've always wanted to try professionally, but never got the chance to.'

Sheaf laughed, admiring his hand. Hacker pulled out her phone and handed it to Sheaf. He seemed a little surprised that she was handing over something like that to him. Seeing his expression, Hacker smiled.

'Did you really think that low of me? I'm a hacker, Sheaf. Nobody knows about keeping cyber-data safe more than we do. My phone will, first of all, give a blank screen on the first page. It's so that no data is revealed if I unlock my phone in public by accident. And second of all, it's one of the most protected phones in the whole world. I designed the walls myself,' She bragged. 

Sheaf nodded, reassured now, and lightly pressed his right thumb over the sensitive area of the phone. Immediately it flared to life, the screen lighting up and, as Hacker had promised, remained blank. Sheaf and X gasped because come on, the tech and coding for this are so intricate and tricky.

Hacker looked on like a proud mother. 'It can replicate irises, anyone's hair's DNA, fingerprints, you name it.'

X nodded. This handy device helped fix into place the last detail he required. 'So, I'll need to scan that guy and get his biodata, right? And he arrives at around 3:40-45 every day. This means if I need to intercept him I need to be there by 3:30pm. Then I can knock him out, hopefully, hide him somewhere, scan him and steal his identity.' He muttered, mostly to himself.

'I think that's it. Is there anything else to plan?' Sheaf asked. Both of them thought hard for a minute, but the only preparation now needed was from X's side, relating to the kind of tools and such he'll need for the job. So they shook their heads.

'Let's go home then. Big day tomorrow.' Sheaf announced, rubbing his hands together and standing up. Both X and Hacker got up as well. They waited for Sheaf to start walking, as their positions made it difficult for either of them to walk first. But Sheaf just stood there, as if waiting for something.

'Well, what are you waiting for? Get a move on. It's like you said, big day ahead.' X urged. Sheaf blinked, then looked at them.

'Aren't you both going?' X narrowed his eyes. Sheaf was behaving weirdly.

'No. You need to go first so that we can go behind you. The chairs and their position are making it hard for us to move first.' Sheaf shook his head and mumbled a yeah, of course, before grimacing slightly and placing one foot in front.

X folded his arms. Something was definitely wrong. He just wasn't able to put a finger as to what exactly it was. 

Sheaf had gotten into trouble again! This certainly hasn't happened because he went to the trouble of voting on every chapter though :P