Mismatched Eyes part 3

Felix opened the door. Inside, the stoic chief had an irritated grin, pinching the crumb-covered cheeks of a young woman on the couch.

He slowly pulled back the door, “I can see you’re... busy.” 

Before he could close it, the grey-haired older woman cleared her throat, stopping him in his tracks, “Ah-hem.”

He sighed and went back to the office. He turned around and looked at the table, which actually had a platter of milk and cookies placed on top of it.

“What’s going on? Am I going on a simulation, Chief?” He asked with furrowed eyes.

“Not quite. Allow me to introduce you to Maria Readman. Codename; Venom Vanguard.” The chief pointed toward the young woman dressed in a black shirt with a pizza printed on it.

The dark-haired woman gulped down the snacks and interjected, “Or… or just V.V. for short.”

“Uh, nice to meet you… um… Venom… is she a new recruit?” Felix asked the chief in a manner that did not acknowledge the young woman’s presence in the room.

“Indeed, yet this young lady possesses field experience, as opposed to your combat simulations.” The chief uttered in a mocking tone as she pushed back her dark gray hair to the side.

“Well, maybe if you’d let me out in the field instead of long-distance assassinations, I might just improve.” His voice dripped with petulance.

The chief walked back to her desk by the wall of the room behind the window. “It was Professor Tetsuya’s call to make it so you wouldn’t be sent out to actual combat. He wanted to ‘test the waters’ long enough to see if you could handle it.”

“I’m the best agent here.”

“Then explain why you’re ranked thirteenth?” The chief shot back sharply as she pushed up her round, orange-tinted glasses. “You’re nowhere near the number one.”

He clicked his tongue, unable to respond. Maria tilted her head awkwardly as she silently watched.

“But I suppose that is why he wouldn’t allow you to be compromised until you were ready. Couldn’t afford losing billions without Doctor Tetsuya’s masterpiece never achieving anything.”

With a disingenuous grin, he asked, “And when will I be ready?”

“Now.”

“Wait, really?” He was taken aback by the Chief’s immediate reply.

“That’s right. This is why I wanted to introduce you to her. For you to get to know each other.”

Felix glanced down to see the young woman staring at him with wide and curious black eyes, “Know each other?”

Chief turned her head towards the black-haired girl, as if to give her permission to speak, “Maria.”

“Right!” The young woman gulped down the cookies stuffed in her cheeks and walked up to the young man.

“Hi there! My name is um… M-Maria Readman, codename Venom Vanguard, or V.V. But honestly, I’d just prefer that you call me Marie. Nice to meet you.” She introduced herself with multiple names, and stretched out her hand towards Felix with a carefree demeanor.

The young woman stood much shorter than he did, and had ebony black hair.

“Uh, likewise.” He awkwardly shook her hand.

“This girl, with the mouth stuffed with cookies, is an Elite Agent?”

“Her records are rather shaky, but she’s the real deal.” Chief remarked.

“Heterochromia?” Maria muttered curiously as she got a closer look at him. She stared into his blue eye, radiating with a foreign, unfamiliar, almost alien-like light.

“Yeah, I got it after the implementation.” He replied as he looked at the hand he shook with, which was now covered in cookie crumbs.

She tilted her head and asked, “Yeah, weren’t both of your pupils supposed to change?”

“… I’m still undergoing the process…”

“Strange… I-I’m sorry what was your name again? Sorry, I’m bad at names…”

“Felix Aster.”

“Felix… Aster? As in the Black Cat of Ruin?” Maria immediately turned to the chief as she pointed at him with a squeal of excitement in her voice.

“Indeed.” The chief answered.

“The Black Cat bit is… actually not official.” He mumbled out.

“Wait but then why do people call you that?”

“It probably has something to do with my eyes.” Felix scratched his cheek as he clarified.

“So… child of stars, then?” The chief cheekily added.

He looked at the older woman an annoyed smile, “Yeah, let’s not go with that.”

With both hands clasped behind her back, she leaned in close with a big smile and uttered, “Could you be fun I wonder?”

His eyebrows curled as he pushed her head back with his index finger, “Huh? Is something wrong with you?”

She giggled in a cold yet cheerful tune, “A great, many things.” Going back to the chair and taking another cookie.

“Don’t mind her, she just has some childish tendencies. She’s enhanced, just like you.”

He turned to the chief, “Wait, what?”

“A first stage, fresh from Batch Delta.”

Felix moved closer to the young woman’s face while she silently stuffed her mouth, thinking to himself;

The professor said I would meet them soon, but… already?

“Huh… Stage one, huh?”

Maria, still chewing, pouted in response, “Sorry my eyes don’t glow in the dark, Mister Masterpiece.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The chief leaned against the desk, arms crossed, “She’s also the sole survivor from her division. You have that in common.”

“... Sole survivor.” He stiffly echoed.

She gulped, nodding quietly with a wide stare.

From the chief’s desk, a holographic projection popped out.

Felix’s eyebrows curled with curiosity as he read it out loud, “The Dragon of the Little Sun… in Beijing? Why send us to some small-time mafia group?”

“We’d send operatives already stationed there, but it appears that they’ve either gone MIA, or the ravens have brought back their corpses to us.” The chief answered.

His lips parted, startled by the information.

The chief lifted her gaze with a cold stare. “Besides, if you’re serious about making it to the top of the leaderboard, then…”

“I wasn’t refusing.”

“Keep a low profile, infiltrate the facility and assist Maria to gather information.” The chief explained, handing the two agents the documents.

“Hmm, intel gath—Wait, did you say assist?”

“We can’t have you taking the wrong documents… again.”

“But—”

“Before you say anything, it’s not simply your incompetence to work with technology. Maria is a professional cracker, her skills are top notch. Your job is to protect her. Keep her alive and safe.”

“Protect her? But I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Guess it’s time for you to learn, best agent. Your main problem will be getting into the building; Maria can handle the rest once you get inside while you protect her.”

He glanced over behind him and saw the girl perch her head over her hands.

“No worries, this won’t be your usual escort mission. I won’t be the useless NPC who gets in the way.” The young woman smiled.

He responded with a puzzled look, “A what?”

“You have my permission to kill, but preferably keep the damages to a minimum. I reiterate. Keep. The Damages. Minimum. Both of you. We don’t want the tensions to rise any higher. Am I understood?” The chief emphasized with each breath.

“... Crystal.” He responded.

“If you understand, then you are dismissed. Good luck, and leave nothing to chance.” The chief said as she sat down and pulled out a cigarette.

“Yessir.” Both agents replied, but as Felix saluted, Maria glanced over and mirrored his motion with a peppy smile.

The two headed for the door. But as he was about to leave, the chief called out, “Felix.”

“Uh, yeah?”

Maria exited first, leaving him with the chief.

“There have been a number of agents going off the grid lately. Even the ones in the leaderboard. Several MIAs. Corpses are piling up.”

“I know.” He answered dismissively.

Refusing to let him leave the room immediately, she spoke with a concerned tone. “This is not a simulation. Nor is it a long-ranged assassination. You will be in danger, and she won’t be here to protect you. If you really want to make it to the top, don’t die.”

His eyebrows curled at her sincere words, and simply nodded to reassure her, “Right.”

As he exited the room, he lowered his head and sighed.

Maria, who was in front of him, lifted up the metal platter right at his face, “So, um… cookie?”

“When did you get that?” He scowled at her for a few seconds.

The young woman slowly felt uneasy by his stare, “You… don’t like cookies?”

“Sigh, thanks.” He dryly replied as he took the cookie from the platter. As he took a bite, his expression softened as he muttered, “Mhmm, this would go well with some coffee…”

“Right?” Her eyes quickly sparkled as she looked at him eating it, “I have more, oh, and this is also really good!” She brought out packs of snacks.

His cheeks turned rosy as she leaned in closer to him, their faces just inches apart.

The conversation continued back and forth between the happy-go-lucky lady and the silent young man as they went off to prepare for the mission.

~