It was a very intricate tattoo, detailed and made with care and attention. At first, no one could really make out what it was supposed to be, but when X was turning here and there to see the tattoo clearly, his back suddenly turned at the right angle and it struck Hacker like a lightning bolt.
'A map! The tattoo's a map!' She exclaimed, pointing wildly. Everyone was startled and immediately craned their necks to see it carefully.
'Yeah, she's right! Look at it like this.' Sheaf replied excitedly, wringing his hands in X's direction.
Tasker nodded thoughtfully. 'That's what I was about to tell you guys before X announced it loudly. The question is, why did they do this? What is the purpose behind the complicated map? And why did they ever release Agent X?'
Hacker's eyes widened and she nodded vigorously. 'Yeah, I mean why would they release him after capturing and tor.. torturing him in the first place?'
Everyone noticed her slight stutter when she said torture, but nobody commented on it because honestly, it was a hard topic and no amount of preparation could make anyone ready to deal with it.
So Sheaf just cleared his throat and replied to her, 'I'm not really sure, and this is probably way off, but what if they were setting an example or something? Like, they wanted to show how deadly and fearless they are that they won't be caught and all?'
Tasker shook her head and pointed at a very bewildered Agent X. 'Or what if it's anything to do with that wild tattoo on his back? Maybe it's trying to lead us somewhere they want us to go.'
Before Hacker or Sheaf could reply, the doors opened again and X's previous team split out of it, pouring into the room in a decidedly quieter way than Sheaf and Hacker did. They wove through the maze of beds carefully, mindful of the numerous patients resting in various positions.
They surrounded X, standing at just the right distance for a mentally disturbed patient. X looked considerably more panicked when they made an appearance, Hacker noticed.
Ah, that's probably because he doesn't remember that the whole team got together to rescue him from that place. In his mind, he's been separated from them for a very, very long time.
They seemed to notice it as well because their expressions fell just a bit and they maintained an even greater distance from him. Tasker gesture for the team to follow her out as she already started walking towards the door. Hacker and Sheaf gently guided X to his bed and helped him into it.
They knew that X would have certainly protested to it if he was in a better state of mind, and probably wouldn't like to be mollycoddled, so they let him tuck himself into bed and settle down after a painful string of hisses and curses.
His eyelids were already starting to droop, so Hacker just gently patted his shoulder and murmured reassuring words to him till he fell asleep.
Hacker put her finger over her mouth and pointed at the door to Sheaf. He nodded in understanding and followed her out, much to the relief of the chagrined nurses and doctor shaking their heads at them.
When they closed the door behind them and turned around to face the team, they immediately noticed their downcast expressions and white faces and understood that Tasker had clearly spilt the beans on X.
'Why? Why did this have to happen to him? He was such a great guy!' Leader cried out, and Hacker's heart turned cold at her use of tenses.
'Is. He is such a great guy.' She corrected Leader immediately, 'He's still around here, not dead. Granted, all this isn't really the best of situations, but X is really, really strong. I know that he'll come out of it ever stronger than before.'
Leader looked down in embarrassment, but Hacker didn't have any remorse for what she said. No one should have any doubts that Agent X would be completely fine despite all his experiences.
Tasker sighed beside them. 'Alright, we've all had a hard time these past few days, and this incident has just made things difficult to deal with. Anyways we can't do anything about it now. Let's all just take a step back and let X breathe for a while. I can't even imagine how hard things must be for him.'
They all nodded quietly and slowly dispersed. Hacker shook her head sorrowfully and went towards her room as well. She had already resolved to do as much research on this as possible. Oh, and that map. What was all that about?
She first pulled up the weird phenomena X was going through, and plenty of research was apparently done to show that the brain really did shut down when faced with too much trauma, both physical and mental. All the articles and reports and evidence really broke her heart, and Hacker finally made peace with that topic.
She had more important things to do anyway. At first she tried out various reasons as to why they would release Agent X just like that. One of the top plausible reasons was that since he was in such a mental state, they probably decided to give him back because he had given all the important information he could. Now he could serve better as an example of what happens to people who mess with ACE.
It made her sick to the heart to think about all this, but it was necessary to do so. Only then could she figure out how to help X.
A few of the other reasons she had come up with were quickly dispelled. It was a fact that X could have been implanted with anything harmful for SHADE. Items ranging from trackers and such devices to deadly viruses and harmful chemicals that could very well cause him to explode and take SHADE down with him.
But Hacker knew that Tasker had made sure to follow all protocols pertaining to this situation to make sure X was completely clean before letting him enter here.
Another possibility was that X had been trailed and was being used to find SHADE's entrance, but once again Tasker had saved the day with her presence of mind even in dangerous situations. She had agents trail the vehicle they had come in, and they made sure that no one was following Agent X when he was being taken into SHADE's HQ.
So that only left Hacker's summarization, an analysis she'd formed based on Sheaf's guess. Honestly, it really did seem like a good reason, and she had to remember to congratulate Sheaf on his clever thinking.
But now, there was a more urgent business to take care of. The map drawn on his back was very obviously not done because ACE wanted to see X's back filled with a cool tattoo. Yeah, obviously not.
Just then, someone knocked on her door and snapped her out of her thoughts. With a distracted yell to come in, she spun around to face the door. To her surprise, one of the people she'd worked with before came in with a respectful bow of the head.
'Hello to you too. What brings you here? Is there something you need?' Hacker said with a polite and warm smile.
He nodded his head with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. 'I just needed the file you made on the mission we worked on together. My progress report is due, and I haven't collected my mission files yet, so I'm running around and doing it.'
Hacker laughed lightly and rolled over to her desk to pull out the file out of the ones she'd stacked in the drawer.
While she was rummaging for it, out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the agent was very fidgety, like he wanted to say something but was hesitating immensely.
'You can say it, you know? Whatever you want to tell or ask me but are hesitating due to some reason. You don't need to be afraid of me, I'm not the kind to explode at people's words.' She said without looking up from the files.
He startled slightly before sighing and clearing his throat to speak. 'Hacker, I know that this is probably a very sensitive topic for you, but what happened to Agent X? I've heard that he was left on the pavement, barely conscious with a tattoo of a map on his back. Is it true?'
Hacker's hands stilled immediately, and she looked up with a blank face that barely withheld the churn of emotions within her. 'Agent Sparrow. I'm assuming you know my work culture and professionalism. I don't indulge in gossip and idle talk, and nor do I reveal information about agents to each other. Please don't ask me this again, and don't indulge in gossip yourself as well.'
Though her expression and tone remained polite and civil, he must have obviously understood that something was off, because he hurriedly excused himself with apologies pouring out of his mouth.
Hacker just quickly pulled out his file, handed it to him and waved him off with a gesture. But her heart was still uneasy. Was he really going to follow her instructions of not gossiping? And where had he even got that rumor from?
Tasker, Sheaf and his ex-team were faithful people, who obviously understood the gravity of the situation and cared for X enough to not gossip about him.
Ugh, Hacker groaned and held her head in her hands. Why was everything so complicated?
Elsewhere, Sheaf was having a relatively harder time in controlling the crowd at the door of the medical ward. He'd just been about to leave for his office when two-three people had wandered over and begun asking about Agent X. Sheaf had tried to shoo them off, but they'd gotten a glimpse of X lying on the bed, strands of the tattoo visible through his sleeping form.
Then Sheaf didn't even have time to react before the rumors spread and people began flocking around slowly but surely, looking for gossip with eager eyes and ears. This crowd was decidedly harder to shoo away, and the fact that he couldn't even yell at them was making this very hard.
He could hear snatches of their conversation from where he stood. That X had failed in his mission and been captured, that he'd been released later, half dead and with mysterious tattoos on his back.
Some other rumors were preposterous, one after the other, getting exaggerated through the crowd's various filters.
That X had drawn the tattoos on his own, that he was faking his condition, that he was a ticking time bomb sent to destroy their HQ. Sheaf tried his best to put such rumors to rest, assuring the crowd that he'd had the highest level of screening for such threats, but who listens to such words when one is gossip-thirsty?
So he just resigned himself to standing there and trying to prevent everyone from looking at X through the glass fitted into the doors.
Just when he was wondering if he should resort to physical violence to push the ridiculous crowd back, he glimpsed Tasker coming his way. His heart glowed when she frowned immediately and smiled to himself in relief. Tasker would take care of these nosy people.
And take care of them she did. With a sharp and loud what's happening here, she managed to get everyone's attention for a few seconds. That time being more than enough, she proceeded to give everyone an earful for their childish and irresponsible behavior and reminded them that they were working professionals with jobs to do.
The crowd finally looked ashamed of themselves and dispersed slowly, low mutterings of disappointment hanging in the air. Tasker shook her head with abject distaste before focusing on Sheaf, who was now leaning on the door in a relieved stance.
Tasker shook her head and stared at herself before approaching him. 'Really, Sheaf? I thought you would be a little better at controlling those gossip mongers.'
Sheaf was so stunned that he completely glazed over the teasing remark she made. Tasker was not someone who told such things about people. She was someone whose professionalism drew everyone's admiration. She never gossiped, never gave unwarranted favors and was always polite and business-like with everyone.
He supposed everyone had their limits, and Tasker seemed to be bordering on hers. There wasn't anything they could do about it though. Till X was fit and fine, this drama would go on.
'So what do we do now? Agent X is severely unwell, and people are flocking around him like a pack of wolves around an injured sheep!' His voice kept rising and rising due to his indignance and Tasker had to remind him to keep it down in case someone heard him.
'Sheaf, this is such a bad situation, and we have to choose between two evils now. If we need to protect X that way, we'll need to stand vigil at this door at all times, which both of us know isn't possible.'
He started to protest but she immediately raised her hand, silencing him. 'Yes, Sheaf. None of us can do that. We have further missions to accomplish, like it or not. And even if we choose to forgo missions to do this, the very fact that someone is standing guard here 24/7 is going to raise unnecessary questions. We don't know how long X'll take to heal, and we can't keep taking care of him like this.'
Sheaf fisted his hands at his sides, veins throbbing at his temples in a rare display of pure anger, but he also knew that they were helpless in such a situation. He had to just let go of it and let fate take control.
So he just sighed, unclenched his hands, and nodded gruffly. Tasker's eyes softened and she patted his shoulder firmly before turning and leaving for her office. Sheaf turned around and banged his fist on the wall in front of him repeatedly, stopping after a while to rest his forehead on the wall dejectedly.
He also eventually had to leave as well, dragging his feet behind him as he walked toward his office.
Meanwhile, Tasker's appearance had dispersed the crowd in front of the medical ward's door, but it had in fact fueled all the rumors about Agent X wildly. They say bad news travels ten times faster than good news, and gossip a hundred times more than both of them.
It was the same here as well. While this line of work entailed dangerous tasks and situations for the operatives, X's story was unlike anything they'd ever heard. And of course, no information can pass through so many people without becoming elaborated and exaggerated.
There were many things that were being said about Agent X, becoming as far-fetched as to claim that he had fought hundreds of guards in a hero style scene but had failed ultimately, that he had in fact been betrayed by someone from his team, that he had given up and lost to ACE on purpose.
And such tremendous gossip eventually gets into the wrong ears and slowly worms its way in, burrowing itself comfortably to cause loads of problems in the future.
Such was the case with Agent X's story.
It so happened that X was making a strong and speedy recovery, and was meeting everyone slowly and piecing together all that had happened after he lost consciousness that fateful day.
He was just sitting on his bed and taking his medicines when someone important-looking entered through the door with quiet discretion. He stopped beside X's bed and drew his attention immediately.
Without much aplomb, he quietly announced what he'd come all the way to say. 'The leader of SHADE wants to meet you, Agent X.'
Well, that sounds ominous! What does the leader of SHADE want from him?
Poor X must be nervous though. He needs a vote of confidence!