Glass shattering was the first noise Dan heard that morning. It also served as his unexpected alarm clock. The internal alarm built into his HUD didn’t wake him up yet. Even so, Dan managed to get a solid seven hours of sleep. He was on high alert from hearing the glass break. His hearing picked up the sudden noise coming from the living room in his apartment. His hearing was precise enough that he knew which specific window had been busted and his mind was already drawing a mental picture of the extent of the damages.

Dan rolled out of bed and grabbed the two Initiate pistols strapped beneath the side of his bed. The drawer within his night stand contained two mags. He quickly loaded both of his handguns and got ready to confront the intruder in his apartment. Whoever dared to invade the home of an Alpha agent would regret it.

Without his armor, Dan didn’t have his footsteps silenced by the specialized boots of the Mk. II Stealth suit. He took each step in methodical fashion as he slowly opened his bedroom door and walked through the short hallway.

Dan kept both his handguns pointed in the air. His hearing picked up footsteps walking around in his living room. He heard the door of his refrigerator open. Dan only heard one set of footsteps. Dan kept his back against the wall, knowing that whoever fired the first shot had the advantage. He wasn’t wearing his armor, meaning all it took was just one bullet to put him down if he wasn’t careful.

He made it to the end of the hallway and leaned his body out slightly. Even without his armor, Dan was confident in his ability to kill this intruder. So far during his time as an agent, he had quelled a riot, aided Jane Sunheiser in crushing a rebel cell in Amethyst and helped Michael Cynosa in stealing back the container of arctic serums.

Pointing his gun he was about to pull the trigger when he saw the figure of the intruder. He disengaged and didn’t fire. Shrinking back into the hallway, Dan was dumbfounded. The intruder in his kitchen appeared to be a young girl with fair skin. She wore a tank top that was cropped, exposing her lower back. What shocked him the most was the strawberry blond hair.

Why had Angie Bloodliner broken into his apartment?

The last time Dan had a pretty girl in his apartment, she turned out to be a traitor and almost killed him on numerous occasions. Dan still remained on high alert as he tiptoed his way to the edge of the hallway.

“Hey Angie. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dan shouted.

“Oh hey, are you finally up?”

“You didn’t answer my question. You mind telling me why you broke my fucking window?”

“Hey relax,” Angie said. Her voice sounded closer. “The Alpha Corp can pay for a repair. All of our living quarters are paid for.

Dan leaned out from the hallway and saw Angie standing in front of him. Angie wore nothing but a white tank top and red shorts. Her footwear consisted of only flip-flops.

“Okay, sorry about breaking in. I wanted to test out my infiltration skills,” she said. She was sucking on a popsicle she stole out of Dan’s freezer.

“First of all, infiltrations are supposed to be quiet. You smashed through my window and that woke me up,” Dan said, lowering both his handguns. He walked over to a small round table and set his pistols on it. “Second, why didn’t you just entered the apartment and used the elevator?”

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“Oh where’s the fun in that? We’re agents! We’re supposed to do things the least boring way possible.”

The obnoxious chewing combined with Angie’s unconvincing logic didn’t help calm Dan’s nerves.

“By the way, do you have any bandages? I got some bruising on my knuckles from punching my way through your glass.”

“How about no?” Dan said. “You broke my window like a dumbass so you can suffer the consequences.”

“Wow you’re feisty this morning,” Angie said. “Fine, I won’t do that ever again.”

“You do that again, you’ll suffer more than just brusied knuckles. I don’t take kindly if I think I’m going to get robbed,” Dan warned.

“My bad,” Angie said casually. “Anyways, Li’s inviting the two of us to come and talk. Are you coming along?”

“I need to eat first.”

“Oh don’t worry, he said he’s paying.”

“At least he has manners,” Dan said, grabbing his handguns and walking back into the hallway. “I bet he would have infiltrated my apartment better than you did. At least he would have been quiet.”

“Oh fuck off,” Angie said. “Sometime I wonder if you have a secret crush on Li.”

Dan chuckled at Angie’s ridiculous accusation. “I know him well enough that he wouldn’t pull some bullshit like this on me.”

“I guess you’re not letting this go,” Angie said rolling her eyes at him. “Just hurry up and get dressed. Your boyfriend is waiting for you.”

Dan wished he could just knock Angie’s ass out and go meet up with Li alone. Oddly, a memory filled his mind of a conversation he had with Allen during their attack against the rebels. Allen warned him about hot chicks being crazy, especially if they were agents. After what he experienced with Kate and to a lesser extent, Angie, his more experienced senior proved correct.

He entered his bedroom and took out the magazines of his handguns, carefully placing them back into the original drawer and then strapping his dual handguns back underneath his bed frame.

Dan opened his walk-in closet and saw the box that contained his new armor, the Mk. II Stealth suit. He grabbed the handles on the sides of the box and carried it back into his bedroom. He lifted the lid off and took out the individual pieces out.

For an advanced suit of armor, Dan was surprised at how modular each piece appeared to be, as if it parts of the armor was meant to be swapped and mixed with other custom parts. Dan laid out the padded torso, legs, gloves and other pieces along his bed. He threw both of the long coats onto his bed as well and began taking his clothes off.

When he dropped his pants, Dan’s heart rate spiked when his bedroom door opened. “Woah you’ve definitely been working out the glutes,” Angie said.

Dan jerked his head behind him and saw Angie poking her head through the opened door.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Oh calm down, I see naked men all the time. Trust me, it’s no big deal,” she said with a dismissive wave.

“I—wait what? What do you mean by that?” Dan asked.

“I mean, well do I seriously have to tell you? I mean I’ll occasionally bring home guys for a little fun and go out to strip clubs. You should try it sometime. I mean, you’ve seen me just now, these shorts don’t even reach below my fingers.”

Dan stared at Angie. Her casually sharing details about her sex life didn’t lighten the mood. “Ge the fuck out of my room and stay out until I get done putting on my clothes.”

“Clothes? You're putting on your new armor. That’s not clothing. Come on wear something casual.”

Dan grabbed a throwing knife on his nightstand and winded his arm. “I said get out.”

“Alright, alright,” Angie said.

After she shut the door, Dan let out a sigh. While Angie did have a point about his choice in wardrobe, he also just spent sixteen thousand credits on his new armor. If he wanted to flaunt it, then he would do so without ridicule from his obnoxious teammate.