Agent X

Narrow escapes and sudden visitors

Since it was an open space, the smoke cleared out considerably quickly, but the damage was already done. Only SHADE's commandos were left standing in the center of the circle, bent over due to the smoke's residues as well.

Shell and Snow were nowhere to be seen.

X immediately swiveled around in the spot, trying to see all the possible directions they could have gone. He let out a scream of frustration when they were nowhere in sight and he realized that they had, indeed, found a way to escape. The police had made their way into the place by now hearing X's scream and, when they understood that Shell and Snow had evaded their grasp, quickly proceeded to handcuff the rest of the SHADE operatives.

None of this flurry of activity registered in X's mind. All he could think of was how close he'd come to getting justice for his wife, and how stupidly he'd let go of that chance. He sank to his knees in desperation and put his head in his hands with a slight wail. His comrades, not being able to bear seeing him in that condition, rushed to him, patted his back and murmured reassuring words to comfort him. Soon, the heads of ACE themselves, who'd come to see the fruition of the plan they'd hatched together, walked up to him and pulled him to his feet.

'Hey Agent X, don't despair. You've done well today. All the SHADE operatives from their HQ are being arrested and chained as we speak. These operatives have come under our control as well. And we know you quite well; you'll soon catch Shell and Snow and put an end to this menace once and for all,' One of them said with a slight smile.

X nodded quietly, his eyes trained on the ground. It was clear that he wasn't in the condition to say anything more, so they told him to go home and walked away to inspect the captured operatives.

Agent X stared at the retreating backs of the three brothers for a long time before he sighed deeply to himself and, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, started the long journey home.

Throughout the journey, his head was only filled with memories of his wife and his old life before she was taken away.

Being an orphan at a young age meant that he missed out on many opportunities other kids of his age got.

From education, fun experiences, he'd always been left behind by the others. It had taken so much effort for him to get the position he'd wanted in an IT firm due to his lack of required qualifications. It had been his wife who'd believed in his skill and encouraged him to keep getting better.

She'd brought out the best in him through both good times and bad, but he couldn't even be by her side when she'd needed him the most.

The fury caused by this had become all consuming, and he'd boiled in his anger for a great while before ACE came knocking on his door -literally- and told him what had really happened to his wife. They showed all the proof to support their allegations, and apart from that X even did his own research to confirm that it was indeed SHADE who'd murdered his wife.

Since then there was no looking back. X had joined ACE with the sole purpose of revenge, and trained hard to be chosen to go undercover and expose SHADE for all its evil deeds.

X suddenly shook out of his thoughts as he realized that he'd unconsciously walked all the way home, and was standing in front of the door with a supremely annoyed expression on his face.

He sighed to himself at his carelessness and proceeded to open the door and walk in. For a moment he wondered why the door had been unlocked, when he knew he had ingrained the habit of locking it when he went out.