Chapter Text
Looking at the small piece of yellow colored paper taped onto the bathroom mirror, she scans it, until she finds the line she was looking for: Thursday: wash+tone+serum+moisturizer. When a small nod she sets about the task, following the routine she had written out years ago. It may have been silly, for her a woman of twenty-six, to have to refer to a piece of paper to tell her what to use on her face that night, but it was a small comfort…a routine her and her mother had created the day she got her first pimple. As she is smoothing the semi-clear serum around her cheeks, her phone rings. Clenching her jaw and against her better judgement, she answers it and commands it to switch to speaker phone. “My first vacation in nearly ten years literally just started an hour ago…the damn world better be catching on fire if you’re calling me…”
Her assistant on the other end lets out a nervous chuckle. “I understand that and that we were under strict orders not to contact you unless…as you say…the damn world is catching on fire. However, we just had a mission come across—”
“That I’m sure any number of the capable agents could handle…” She cuts in as she smooths on the moisturizer.
“Not this one…” The seriousness of his tone catches her attention more. She commands the phone to switch to a video conference, throwing an image of her assistant onto a portion of the mirror in front of her. He was obviously taken aback at first at seeing her in her current state, but quickly recovers. “Um—this one that just came across is a 1-A—”
“A 1-A…” she wracks her brain for a moment. “Those are just hypothetical…who would be stupid enough—”
“You know who would be—” The two stare at each other as the seriousness of the situation settles over her. “The director wants you to come in and head out ASAP. He’s already got at least a three hour head start on us…”
Grabbing the phone off the dock it disconnects from a video chat and heads for her bedroom to redress. “Good thing I’ve got a faster ship and know exactly where I’m going…I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Twenty-five minutes later, she approaches her director who was supervising the readying of her ship. “We’ve confirmed it’s actually him? He is actually stupid enough to do this?”
“Seems his threats weren’t as empty as you thought.” The woman says as her youngest senior agent comes to a stop next to her. She hands her a tablet, loaded with the information she’d need. This was standard routine, but the next item she hands her isn’t. “Here, you’ll need this for clearance.”
She takes the white envelope from the director, seeing the name of the recipient scrawled across the front of it. “I assume I’m going by myself?” Her boss confirms this by shaking her head. “And I assume…they…don’t know?”
“I thought it wise if we didn’t—”
“They’ll be thrilled about that when I get back…”
“I assume you realize the delicateness of this mission.” The director says, cutting off the mumbling form the younger woman. She nods her head, returning to seriousness. “You are the only one I trust to complete this. Another team is en route, to try and head him off, but you need to get—”
“Yeah, I know…more than usual is at stake here.” The severity of the mission wasn’t lost on her, but she was trying not to think of that. With a nod and quick shoulder squeeze, the director sends her agent off, watching her as the boards the ship. The routine of sending the ship off begins, a lot less complicated than when she first began this so many years ago. Within five minutes, the white-oblong shaped ship with gone with nothing more than a quiet pop and a slight breeze. She stares at the spot that the ship had been sitting in; this mission was one that had her worried. So much was riding on it…but if anyone could complete it, it was the agent she had sent to do so. Her name being called out finally breaks her out of her train of thought. Smoothing down her suit jacket, she takes a quick deep breath and walks back to the monitor bay.