The two returned shortly after handing off the criminal. While Felix was still in the middle of writing his report, the chief’s assistant, Murphy, had stood waiting for their arrival. The two agents were told to head the chief’s office as soon as possible.

“Another mission already?” Maria grumbled as she opened the door, carrying a bandaged Felix over her shoulder. Her tone was restless and exhausted. But the scratch on her cheek was already close to fully recovering.

“Marie, I said I’m fine.”

“And the doctor said your jacket isn’t designed for blocking explosives.”

He laughed and turned his head over to the chief’s assistant. “Ugh… Murphy, could you make me a coffee?”

Maria gently let him down and voiced out her own request, “Soda for me.”

“I wanted to inform you that after your recon mission in Beijing, the higher ups thought about promoting both of you. I have no confirmation of this, however, due to your current failure, that may be postponed.”

Felix spoke, “We failed to retrieve the package; I’m surprised it wasn’t canceled altogether.”

“I don’t have enough information yet, however, I was informed that we retrieved the package.”

“What?”

“I don’t know myself.”

“Did it come from Frontier Industries? Because there was this note. Lewis said he was captured before he could see what happened, but under him was this letter with Frontier’s seal on it. It’s signed by “Vermillion.” Does it ring a bell?” Felix showed the chief the letter.

“I could do a quick search.” The chief answered as she went to her computer, “I can’t find anything on the records, however, though there is a recently admitted Crimson—” The chief stopped, as if to prevent her chuckle from slipping out.

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“Crimson?” Maria raised her eyebrow.

“Don’t mind it. According to the database, there is no one registered as ‘Vermillion.’” The chief answered.

“I see. That’s strange.” Felix remarked.

“What was in the package, anyway?” Maria asked.

“Illegally manufactured plutonium-239.”

“What, were they making a nuclear bomb?” Maria scoffed.

“That or they were harnessing nuclear energy.”

“What about Julius, do you have anything on him?” Felix added to the conversation.

“We’re working on it, but a single name isn’t much to go by. We could’ve had a better lead if only a certain someone hadn’t killed Harbinger.” The chief turned her gaze toward the other agent in the room.

Maria looked upwards with an air-headed expression and replied, “Hm?”

“Agent Harbinger wasn’t known for his computer skills. Be that as it may, the fact remains that his corpse was left behind in the Dragon of the Little Sun, along with his gear and other possessions that belonged to the agency… More specifically, he apparently had something known as the Matrix Key.”

“Matrix Key?” Felix asked.

“A valuable piece of stolen technology. One that can automatically unlock any digital data, developed by one of the agencies. And it was likely left on his person.”

“Oh… shit.” Maria blurted out.

“We have reason to believe that said key is something the Jackal is after. We cannot let him retrieve it.” The chief gave the two agents folders and documents as she told them, “Your mission is to retrieve the key before anyone is able to make use of it. Mission is active at sixteen hundred hours, tomorrow.”

“Right.” Felix answered.

“Weird, last time we only had a couple hours to prepare.” Maria remarked.

“Last time was a special case. Thankfully this time, the robins got us some intel, which will give you ample time to prepare. Any questions?”

“Ah, yeah, um… you wouldn’t happen to know of a blond guy and a white-haired girl, would you? They both had red eyes. We ran into them earlier, they kinda—”

“Broke my door. Can I have that repaired?” Maria cut to the point.

“Ah yes, I can’t tell you any details, but the both of them will surprise you with how similar they are to you two.” The chief smirked.

Maria raised her eyebrow and bluntly asked, “Are they also enhanced humans?”

The chief lost her smile and took a puff from her cigarette and gazed at the ceiling of her office, ignoring Maria’s question.

“Skip the foreplay, they’re enhanced humans, aren’t they?” She cheekily added.

“How did you—”

“It was hard to see due to the sunlight, but their eyes were glowing. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

“Damn it, Maria!” The chief angrily shoved the two agents out of her office.

With documents in hand, the two agents were left standing at the door outside the chief’s office. Felix glanced over Maria, “Guess I was right on the money.”

To which he replied with a shrug.

~