The next day brought on its own set of challenges with it. Apparently, Sheaf and Hacker had run away from SHADE's HQ when the cops had surrounded them. But the problem had come in when both of them had tripped and banged into the walls of the narrow alleyway they were escaping through.
They'd gotten pretty hurt, but being trained operatives, they managed to push the pain aside and somehow get to Agent X's house. The throbbing had ceased for a while due to all the adrenaline running through them, but when they woke up the next morning, their wounds flared to life as well and began bugging them endlessly.
It was this story that was recited to X during breakfast when both of them took turns telling the tale with puppy eyes inserted in between to make X forgive them for not telling him sooner.
In the end, both of them made goo-goo eyes and stared at him until X sighed, forgave them, and got the first aid kit to treat them.
'I've treated the majority of the wounds, but you guys need to take it easy to ensure that you don't move around too much and disrupt the bandages.' X told them as he wrapped up the last piece of cloth around Hacker's hand.
Both of them nodded over eagerly and he sighed at their silliness.
While trying to think if he missed anything in their treatment, he began playing with his earring absentmindedly and staring off into space.
X suddenly noticed Hacker eyeing his earring carefully, and he remarked with a laugh, 'What, did you like this earring so much you want it for yourself?'
Hacker flushed at being caught and shook her head bashfully. 'Nah, I was just wondering why you're wearing it in the first place. I mean, you're not much of a jewelry person, you know?'
X took a deep breath as he remembered how Sheaf had asked him the exact same thing and he'd promised to tell him the story later. Perhaps it was finally time to reveal the earring's story.
'Yeah, I know that. There's actually a deeper meaning behind me wearing this. I'd promised Sheaf that I'd tell him the story once the time was right, and I actually almost forgot about it till now.' He started with a sheepish chuckle. Then he cleared his throat and started what was an obviously painful memory for him.
'It had been an ordinary day actually. We'd gotten up and gone for work as usual, but that day she'd forgotten to wear one of the earrings of a favorite pair. I kept it in my pocket, thinking I'd give it to her later, but that later never came. When I found out that she was killed, I started wearing it as a reminder of her, 'cause I ended up missing her a little less when I wore it.'
Hacker and Sheaf looked at the earring from a different angle after listening to the story. Was there even a small part of his actions that weren't connected to his wife's death? They felt bad thinking of how X had made the pain an integral part of his life and lived every day punishing himself for her death. Nobody should have to live with such sorrow and misery.
Sheaf forcefully shook himself out of his thoughts and asked a question that had been on the back of his mind since the day before. 'Agent X. We were going to move on to the tougher topics and discuss the VX and all, right?'
'Yup, that's right,' X replied, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. 'I was gonna tell you guys that we already have a good idea of what Shell has been planning for a long time. There are a few key elements remaining, but hopefully, we can work out the remaining creases in the plan as well.'
Sheaf and Hacker nodded vigorously and leaned forward in their seats, both hands tightly clasped over their knees.
'I had done a lot of research on SHADE before coming and working here, and apparently, SHADE has been around for a really long time. They've attempted many attacks on countries and tried to rob the government and stuff.
But the plan that's been hatching now seems like the most outrageous one of them all. I'm not sure whether Shell made it or if has been passed down through the leaders, but it's pretty intense and catastrophic if it succeeds.'
'Dude, get on with the plan already. I'm jumping out of my seat enough as it is!' Sheaf intersected in between. X nodded and sped things up a bit.
'So, this time SHADE seems to be aiming at world domination.' He revealed with a disgruntled expression.
Sheaf and Hacker looked shocked, but to an extent, they already expected something like this to come out of X's mouth. After all, how many people have tried their hand at ruling the world through unfair means, only to be thwarted by the good guys?
'The exact specifics are what will help us defeat SHADE once and for all,' X admitted and cleared his throat and began his story.
'As I said, SHADE wants to dominate the entire world. In today's connected world, the only way to actually do that is to gain control of the world's leaders, that is, all the Prime Ministers and Presidents of the powerful countries.
And the only way to do that is to add a huge stake into the equation. Unfortunately, the path SHADE has chosen is to put all the citizens of the world in their path of destruction. These millions of innocents will be the casualties of VX if the world's leaders refuse to comply with SHADE.'
Now Sheaf and Hacker looked terrified. The world's leaders were one thing, but millions and billions of lives at stake were another thing altogether.
'But how are they planning to attack so many people across the world with such a tiny quantity of VX?' Hacker asked with her brows furrowed. It didn't seem practical or possible to transport and equip so many countries with the VX. Unless...
'Oh no, that amount of VX is far from tiny. It seems less when it's in a liquid form, but in a gaseous state, it can spread like crazy. And besides, this isn't the only quantity of VX they have. SHADE has been collecting VX from various sources for a long time. This batch was just the icing on the cake. Meaning, even if they didn't have it, it wouldn't make a difference to their plans.' X clarified. 'And speaking of plans, I still need to tell you what their plans are.
So, here goes. The best way for them to go about all their plans is to have a proper method of deploying the weapon, so the threat to lives would be real and serious. For this, they have taken the help of Earth's atmosphere to spread the VX.
Now, as I've said, the VX spreads like crazy when it's in gaseous form. This means it could be taken to a point high in the atmosphere and released from strategic points, so it would spread through Earth's atmosphere and affect everyone. On top of all that, VX dissolves really slowly, so it's difficult to get out of the atmosphere as well.' X said with a deep breath.
'And that's not even the worst part! Apparently, once it spreads in the air, it's game over. Our gas masks and other forms of protection don't work against it. So once it's released in the air, there's almost no stopping it.'
Sheaf and Hacker looked shell-struck at this. The plan was ridiculously obvious once X unveiled it, but its real elegance lay in its simplicity.
'There's one last detail to this plan,' X spoke up. 'For all these elements to fall into place, Shell needs accurate information to properly estimate various aspects of the plans like the atmospheric conditions, the design of the aircraft needed to take the VX there, and the chemical composition of the VX itself.
To get all this data, Shell required specialists and scientists to give her proper and accurate advice. She's hired quite a few top scientists from our country to work on it with her. You'll be shocked if I reveal all the names right here.'
'What? But how could anyone agree to betray their country just like that?' Hacker exclaimed, admonishing them and taking out her frustrations in a single breath.
Sheaf intercepted at this; he very well knew why people would do something like this. 'It's greed,' He admitted. 'That's, like, one of the only reasons people act in such bizarre ways. They must have been bribed richly by SHADE and been offered various other benefits to work for them. Apart from that, a threat could have also played a huge part in it. SHADE might have threatened them and their loved ones, and they must be acting out of fear as well.'
X smiled. 'I couldn't have said it better than that, Sheaf. It seems like human greed and fear are the most potent motivators in today's world, and SHADE has used them to its advantage.
So now these scientists are working for SHADE, but here's something that puts us at a slight advantage. While doing missions for SHADE, I was actually running side missions as well to collect as much information on these scientists as possible. After all this while, I think I have enough info on them to track them down and, well, finish them off.'
'We're going to finish them off one by one now?' Hacker asked with wide eyes. X couldn't understand whether she was eager about the prospect or not, but there was only one answer to that question anyways.
'Nah. Those scientists are going to pay for their mistakes, but it's not us who's going to punish them. I've already handed over their details to an ACE team who runs similar field operations. They'll look into it and see what needs to be done; if the scientists need to be killed or merely incapacitated until Shell and Snow are taken care of.'
'What about us then?' Sheaf asked him with his hand raised slightly in question. X nodded.
'Mmm, I was coming to that. I've talked to the people responsible for this mission, and they've agreed to let us form a team of our own and chase down Shell and Snow using leads.' He informed them. Sheaf and Hacker looked excited at this prospect, but there was an undoubted tension in their faces. This was a daunting task, and no amount of training ever replaces that initial fear of something going wrong.
'The scientists will be taken care of by our specialized teams, so I just need to hand in the data required to get to them. I'll actually get to it right now, so you guys can get yourself comfortable till I'm done with it.' X concluded and stood up with a light pat on the sofa handle, the way he tended to when his mind was preoccupied with various thoughts.
Agent X wandered off into his bedroom and opened his device, setting up an impromptu conference with the team that was going to wipe out the traitorous scientists. Sheaf and Hacker, not being able to help themselves, walked over and eavesdropped on X's conversation.
X was right; they kept gasping quietly as they heard the names recited by X, as many of these people had been respected by their country as engineers and scientists who had seemed to genuinely work for the benefit of the people. To hear that they had, in fact, been working for the enemy, saddened Sheaf and Hacker to a large extent.
By the time X was done relaying the information he'd collected at great peril, they had gone back to the sofa to rest up as X had recommended, not being able to take any more of the news X was telling them.
They soon heard X's soft padded footsteps through the wooden floors. He sat down in front of them with a deep thump, not like the usual feather-light way he had of settling down. Hacker could easily tell that all these proceedings were seriously affecting his mental health.
'Oh, speaking of mental health..' Hacker suddenly burst out, before realizing that they couldn't hear her thoughts and understand the context of her outburst. When X and Sheaf stared at her weirdly, she chuckled sheepishly and scratched the side of her head. 'Never mind the context, I just wanted to know about the time when you were 'captured'. Did you really have short-term amnesia then or...?'
'Ah yes, that incident,' X muttered to himself and cupped the side of his neck. 'Well, I'll cut to the chase and make the story short, but I was actually pretending to have memory loss the whole time. They hadn't harmed a hair on my head, including when they made that tattoo, but I had to attract enough attention to myself in order to get to Shell, which is why I pretended to be so tormented.' He admitted dryly.
Sheaf, not knowing what else to say, responded with his usual humour. 'Well Agent X, I must say that you're quite the actor if you were able to convince everyone here.'
X giggled slightly at that, then quickly cleared his throat and composed himself. 'Now that all this is taken care of, shall we start planning on our own mission?'
Sheaf and Hacker responded with determined nods and a huge thumbs-up.
Now that all the questions are out of the way, our heroes can't wait to start planning! I hope they plan to click on that star button as well ;P