Everyone glanced at each other apprehensively for a while, not knowing how to react to the plan very well. The plan had merit, to say the very least, but it was so outrageous and risky that they had to take a few moments to process it.
Hacker tried her best to think of any alternatives to this, but she came up with nothing better than storming the HQ, and that proposition was suicidal because, being a weapons-supplying organisation, those people would obviously have an entire army of weapons and poisons.
And since that plan was out of the window, the next best thing would be to do as X suggested. And based on Sheaf's and Meteor"s expressions, they were coming to the same conclusions.
"Alright Agent X. I think we should go with your plan and start working on the finer details of it," Sheaf said with a soft nod. Meteor and Hacker nodded along as well, giving their affirmative.
X smiled eagerly in response and pulled out his device. "I'll be contacting my manager to go over the details with him and ask for permission to order a small batch of VX for the ruse," X informed them and stepped aside to make the call.
Sheaf surprised everyone by huffing and folding his arms at that.
"What"s wrong Sheaf? Weren't you the one who agreed to X's plan? What's got your gun in a twist now?" Hacker remarked with an amused tone.
He shook his head, taking her teasing words to heart. "No, it's not that. It's just..." he broke off, hesitating. When Hacker waved her hand encouragingly, he continued his words, "It's just that this guy never used to bother with giving me status updates when he was working under me. I even used to pester him about that, but he just gave me puppy eyes, and then of course I had to let it go." he grumbled.
Hacker and Meteor both stifled their laughter at that. The image of Agent X trying to make puppy eyes to get out of a sticky situation was just too ridiculous.
Just then, they heard him disconnect the call with a satisfied "bye" and make his way towards them excitedly.
"Hey, guys! You won't believe what I... wait a minute," he paused and looked at Sheaf worriedly. "Sheaf, is everything okay? You're making that weird face of yours again."
Hacker and Meteor burst out laughing at that, clutching their stomachs from the force of it while Sheaf gave a highly affronted gasp and turned his head to the other side dramatically.
X immediately turned directions at that, apologizing for his words and politely asking him if he was okay, but Sheaf kept stubbornly shaking his head, and when it was clear he was throwing a tantrum, X sighed and let go of the matter with an affectionate shake of his head.
"Yes, so as I was saying, my manager has somehow given his approval for this mission, and he's allowed me access to the emergency funds we keep aside for reasons like these. I just need an anonymous identity with which I can contact them. Hacker, that's something You'll take care of."
"Yep, on it," Hacker replied immediately.
"And then it's just the matter of deciding the quantity we'll order and the safe location we'll have it delivered. Sheaf and Meteor, we'll be working on that," he concluded with a small tip of his head. "Any questions?"
All of them shook their heads simultaneously.
"You guys are sure right?"
Another chorus of head shaking ensued at that.
"Alright then, let's get to work. If you guys have any doubts, don't hesitate to voice them to the others." X announced before clapping his hands twice, signalling them to start working on their respective tasks.
Hacker drifted back to the comfy chair she had occupied earlier and started fiddling with multiple screens she had pulled out of her pockets. Sheaf, X and Meteor headed towards a corner of the room, dragging three lightweight chairs behind them.
They arranged the chairs neatly in a circle and settled down comfortably. Then X pulled out a little red notebook he carried out specifically for planning and opened it to a new page. He wrote down both the questions they were going to be puzzling over, then leaned forward expectantly.
"I think the first item we should focus on is the quantity. This will just take a few seconds, so we'll quickly get it out of the way. So, any ideas on this?" X asked, writing device poised over the blank paper.
"Five units," Sheaf answered. "I think it's the perfect amount. Neither too huge nor too small to make them look too much into our intentions. we'll just tell them that we're planning to attack some high-profile hotel in the country or something."
X nodded thoughtfully, writing down the information and frowning at it. "Yes, this should work." he deduced finally. "Your logic seems valid enough for them."
Sheaf allowed himself a small pat on the back before gesturing for X to move on with the discussion.
"And as for the safe location, there are a few shortlisted safehouses ACE has been keeping an eye on for the past few years. Wait, I'll just pull it up so we can view it easily," he informed them and placed a hologram chip on his knee and tapped on it, causing a map of their area to pop up and fill the room with its neon green colours.
X raised his hand and started twirling them around in the air, causing the map to continuously expand and contract in response to his movements. Sheaf and Meteor stared at the map keenly, studying it carefully to analyze all the safe spots and their pros and cons.
At last, X settled on a size for the map and let his arm drop to his side. Sheaf and Meteor took this moment to question him on the locations on the map ACE had marked and their relevance to the weapons suppliers.
He patiently answered all of them, at times referring to his notebook to make sure he was getting the details right. They were starting to shortlist the possible safehouses they could get their intel from and kept referring to the notes that were forming along in X's notebook to make sure they were on the right track.
Soon they were able to round off the nearest safe spot they could use to trap the agents, and now all they needed to do was confirm the final details with Hacker's part of the mission as well.
"Hacker? Are you nearly done with your tasks?" Sheaf called out loudly, snapping Hacker from the daze she'd settled into. She looked up with a disoriented look on her face, taking a few moments to process the question, before shaking her head and looking back at her screens again.
"Ookay... looks like she'll be taking some more time," Sheaf said with an awkward, light chuckle. X laughed at that as well and offered to hang out around Hacker and see her in action.
"But won't she mind us looking over her shoulder while she's doing important coding work?" Sheaf protested weakly as they stood up and placed the chairs in their proper places. X shook his head amusedly.
"Nah, she really wouldn't. I've been around her while she hacks into security systems, and she's usually so engrossed in her work that she doesn't even realize that there are people around her. In fact, if the coding"s hard enough, she probably wouldn't even budge if there's an earthquake." he assured Sheaf.
"Oh, but that's dangerous right? Especially if she has to immerse herself in work in the middle of fighting for some reason." Sheaf realized with a worried frown. X nodded.
"Yeah, I know. I was planning to start helping Hacker in staying alert in all situations so that she isn't caught unawares."
By now they"d reached Hacker and were crouching around her with their hands on their knees, marvelling at her speed and skill as her fingers danced across the various screens splayed out in front of her. Sheaf wasn't able to fully comprehend what she was doing, but it was obvious that she was handling multiple things at once, and managing them with practised ease.
And as X had assured them, Hacker didn't even move in the slightest when they surrounded her and continued her work obliviously. Sheaf made a mental note to start training her to stay conscious of her surroundings at all times.
Even though they had been staring at the holograms for quite some time now, the novelty of seeing pieces of code come together and create something special never wore off.
Finally, Hacker tapped on the holographic chips resting on the little table in front of her, and they pulled the green screens back into their fold. Then Hacker sighed in exhaustion and stretched widely with her hands in the air, almost smacking X's face in the process. He moved away quickly to avoid being hit, and his startled cry made Hacker turn around quickly and gasp.
"Woah, when did you guys come here? I didn't even realize!" she chuckled lightly. All three of them shook their heads in amusement at that. Only if she knew the conversation we'd just had, X thought to himself.
"Anyway, I've completed all the work you assigned me, including the fake profile we'll be using to place the order. In addition to that, I've created a secure line as well, to ensure that nobody unwanted is able to spy on us," she informed them.
"Yhup, that seems good. Shall we run through our lines and see if they seem credible, then?" X pondered, rubbing his earring. Sheaf and Hacker tried not to look at the earring now; the silver ornament made them inexplicably sad now that they knew about its background.
"Sure, grab a seat then."
Once again, chairs were grabbed and bundled in a circle with all four of them perched on the seats. Hacker tapped on a tiny chip on the table, and it opened up a gently revolving file in the air.
She had pulled out the identity they would use as a disguise while interacting with the weapon suppliers. "I've compiled an identity of a guy living in our country as an asset for another country. You're planning to purchase weapons for an armed attack on an elite hotel as a public statement. For that reason, you need five units of VX to launch the attack."
X was nodding along, absorbing the information until he realised something. "Wait a minute, were you listening in on our conversation the whole time? there's no other way You're able to replicate all the details we"d discussed."
Hacker gave a mischievous smile. "Well, I've started to consciously multi-task while working, just like you recommended me to do. It's a bit hard, and I was only able to listen to the part where you were talking about the disguise, but I'm slowly making progress."
Sheaf gave a proud smile and patted her back.
"As I was saying, this is the general information I've put together in the file. But to make it more believable, I've even set up a fictitious terrorist organisation and linked it to you, and forged all the necessary documents you would have required if you were actually pulling this off; things like visas, passports, weapons licenses are ready for you."
X laughed in genuine delight as he reread the file with a clearer perspective on the various subfiles. "You've done a great job, Hacker! you've really thought of everything we would need, and once again worked ahead of yourself." he appraised her. Hacker glowed at the praise and thanked him warmly.
"Now, I've managed to set up a direct connection with them, and it's just waiting to be connected. Just give me the word, and I'll put it through and request for a direct call with them."
X looked at the others one by one in the eye, asking for their opinions as well on the matter. However, the looks on their faces quickly showed him that the decision was unanimous.
"Yeah, let's do this thing!" Sheaf cheered, waving fists in tiny circles in the air. X gave a tiny nod to Hacker, and she opened another holographic chip, this time it was the one that would connect them to the weapons suppliers.
Then she leaned forward and moved a few things around the air, syncing multiple files in quick succession and creating a beautiful pattern with the glowing green shapes.
"Alright then, here we go." she breathed out nervously. She raised her hand in the air and pushed it outwards, toward the direction the files were arranged in. As soon as she put her hand down, the files converged together to form a cohesive shape in the air. It was that of a giant green receiver phone hovering and spinning in the air. Hacker had seen those types of bulky, elongated phones in her outdated gadgets course, so she recognized it instantly.
Then something occurred to her and she slapped her forehead. Everyone glanced at her, probably wondering why she was face-palming herself, and she gestured for Sheaf and Meteor to move out of the range of the receiver to ensure they didn't end up coming in the frame of the video call by accident. Luckily, they understood her paranoia immediately and hurriedly moved out of the way.
Now that the path was clear, the glowing receiver came to a standstill and faced Agent X, who looked placid and commanding, just like his role required him to be. He pulled on a face mask over his nose and mouth to cover his identity considerably.
Meanwhile, the phone pulsed with a green light for a while longer, probably waiting for someone to receive the call on the other end.
Just when Hacker was starting to wonder if this had been a terrible idea, about whether they were ever going to pick up, the glowing dimmed and the pixels rearranged themselves to form a guy"s heavily scarred face, leaning close to the screen. His large face was framed by thick black hair that bunched around his neck.
X considerably straightened up, looked the guy right in the eyes, and offered a polite greeting. It was received with a slight nod by the other, after which the proceedings began.
"So, I'm going to get straight to the point here. I'm sure the fact that you accepted this call means that you've read through my profile and decided I was worthy enough to get a chance at that weapon," he said and paused, gauging the guy"s face for a reaction. When his face remained passive, X cleared his throat and continued.
"My pitch is nothing different from the facts stated in my profile. I've been hired by a terrorist organisation to attack the five-star resort that rich citizens go to. This country has done great harm to me and my country, and I want to avenge my family by shocking these aristocrats." he said, finishing his speech without preamble and with a slight tremor in his voice.
There was a strained silence between them while the guy processed whatever he said. Then he threw his head back and laughed loudly, startling Agent X and his team. Have I become so good at humour that I can make people laugh without even trying to? X thought, bewildered.
Then the guy wiped fake tears from his eyes and grew serious again. "You can't tell me that stupid sob story and expect me to actually believe you, right?"
Oh no! Agent X has been caught in his lies! what do we do now?
A for effort though, X! *bangs on vote button*