Inside a black car with the Golden Lion's insignia, Maria's squeaked and squealed as Felix dabbed ointment on her arm, legs stomping on the floor.
But as they opened the door, Maria flashed her badge on the glass door.
"Let me go, I can walk." Felix said, his arm wrapped over her shoulder.
"No." She answered bluntly.
The two were greeted by the chief's assistant, Murphy, who waited for their arrival. The two agents were told to head the chief's office as soon as possible.
"We just got back… can you give us a minute to rest?" Maria's tone was restless as she opened the door.
Murphy nodded, answering with, "I shall inform her."
"Could you also get me a pen and paper? Need to write a report while I still remember all the details…"
"Certainly, sir." The older man nodded.
Felix pushed himself off the wall, shrugging Maria's arm off his shoulder, "I said I can walk."
"You're limping."
"I'll manage."
Maria clicked her tongue. "Fine. I'm heading to the infirmary. Don't collapse before I get back." She turned and walked off, leaving him alone in the corridor.
"Time to get some…" He rubbed his right eye.
Felix limped through the halls.
Every slow, aching footstep echoed through the pale, metallic halls. All personnel stepped out of his way, until the sound of strumming cut through the corridor.
Two figures approached from the opposite direction. A young woman hummed with eyes shut, holding a ukulele.
Behind her, was a tall, lanky young man tugging on her frizzy orange hair, telling her, "You're disturbing people."
Felix paused and stared, gnashing his teeth while waiting for them to step aside. But she continued, her little instrument nudged him in the small corridor.
"Mhm."
The young man beside her, who stood taller than Felix, apologized and bowed lightly, wearing gauge earrings that stretched his skin, "I'm so sorry for her, sir." His tone passively apologetic, more annoyed at her than repentant towards him.
His blue eye twitched underneath the young man's shadow, then glanced over to the carefree girl.
"Yup. Partner problems." Felix nodded.
"Ah…Is this kind of thing common?"
"Yeah."
"Rico, who are you talking— " the girl turned around and screamed, "TOOO?"
The girl rushed back, pointing her finger at Felix's face, "You!"
"Huh?" He leaned back.
"Kate, it's rude to point at people." The tall, lanky figure forced her hand down.
"You're Felix Aster! He's Felix Aster! I didn't think I'd see you — I thought you were always out on missions!" She squealed, her wide smile revealed her tooth gap.
"Just… got back from one."
"That explains the bandages." The lanky man commented.
Felix looked annoyed for a moment, but between the noticed on her freckled face were frizzy hair, he noticed her mismatched eyes — one a dark brown, and the other, a glowing bright crimson.
"Hm?" Felix leaned in, "Your eye…cybernetics or…?"
He remembered the two from before, the silver-haired woman who touched his face, and the blond man who broke Maria's door.
"No, sir! It's… I don't know what it's called."
"Bioluminescent." The lanky one cut in.
"I see…" Realizing she was just like him, his face softened as he muttered, "The Yliaster was supposed to fix biological flaws. A mutation, perhaps?"
"Actually, the doctors said that there's still a tooth inside her mouth, which is causing that gap." Rico explained.
"Sir, it's exactly as he said, Blue Phantom, sir."
"You said sir, twice." The lanky man beside her whispered.
"Here I thought we were running out of volunteers." He put his hand on his hip, "What's your name, recruit?"
"Kaitlin McCay of the Obsidian Industries, sir! Code name, Agent Carrot! This here beside me is Rico!"
"Rico Bryce, sir. Also from Obsidian, from Project ASTRAEA's Provisional Batch Delta." The tall, young man introduced himself.
"Obsidian?" Felix raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, sir. We discovered the coded message in Lady Natsumi Sakurai's last single, Song for a Stranger. After that, Obsidian scouted us and she sent here to train and undergo the program." Rico explained.
"Here I thought she dedicated that song…" Felix imagined Natsumi's smug grin. "Wait, but… it hasn't been a… paperwork alone should have taken weeks."
"They gave us the gist of it, told us to undergo procedure first before finishing up the paperwork… They uh… told us the potential death rate."
"Is that so…"
"Also we're big fans! Can I have your autograph?!" She screamed.
Taken aback, Felix lightly scratched his cheek, "Uh, I guess… You have a pen?"
With a bright red face, the girl slapped Rico's chest repeatedly as she squealed, "Rico, a pen, give me a pen. Now. Right now!"
"I don't have a pen." The lanky man responded.
"Mhmmm!" She squealed in annoyance, "I… can't get your autograph."
Felix snapped his finger and replied, "Next time we meet, bring a pen instead of a ukulele. Then I might be able to sign something for you."
"Yes!" She nodded her head rapidly.
"So do you think you could step out asi—?"
"Please, take my ukulele as a gift!"
"I'd… rather not."
She leaned in too close for Felix's comfort, "Why not?! Do you hate the ukulele?!"
"No, it's just… There's only one instrument I play, and it's not the ukulele. But, I'd rather listen to you play it someday… just not today." His eye twitching.
"I will practice hard and make you proud!" She saluted him. "Come along, Rico! We must hurry to our mission!" She excitedly strolled on.
"You're the one who stopped…" Rico mumbled to himself as he started walking behind her.
Felix raised his eyebrow, "What was that about?"
The young man turned and faced the blue-eyed agent, "She's excited to see the poster boy of Project ASTRAEA. I'd be lying if I didn't feel a bit similar, since…" his eyes were a simple copper — not possessing the glow that Felix and Kaitlin had.
"Since?" Felix raised an eyebrow.
"I'd love to talk to you another time, sir, but I have to catch my idiot. She's excited to deploy on her first mission. Kate, wait!"
Before Rico could run after her, Felix reached out, "Wait, one last question before you go."
"What is it?" The lanky man turned around.
"Her name is Kaitlin, right? And her codename is Carrot."
"Uh, yes sir."
"You wouldn't happen to know someone called Agent Vermilion, would you? Or is that you, Rico?"
"Uh, no sir. We're also pretty new here, so I don't know much about anyone yet." He shrugged.
"Right. Some advice, don't let her get killed." He said, taking another sip, "She'll never live it down."
"Partner problems, sir?" Rico smirked, and Felix nodded.
"I also have a question. That saying around here? What was it? Good luck, and leave it all to chance."
"It's good luck, and leave nothing to chance." He corrected.
"Thank you, sir. That means a lot coming from you." He grinned widely.
As Rico left, Felix folded his arms, "Could've just asked me for good luck, rookie."
*
The Chief's door swung open, and while Maria walked in, Felix ducked, grabbing onto the top of the door frame.
"Marie, I said I'm fine. Just put me down." Felix tried to worm out while Maria piggybacked him.
"Your jacket isn't designed to withstand explosives." She replied, the scratch on her cheek was already closed.
"It's a coat, and carrying me isn't gonna… " He turned his head over to the chief's assistant. "Ugh… Murphy, could you make me a coffee?"
Maria voiced out her own request, "Soda for me."
Murphy pushed both of them through the chief's door, "I shall return shortly with the drinks."
On her desk, chief raised an eyebrow, "What's going on here?"
"He hurt his back." Maria answered, still piggybacking him.
"She won't put me down." Felix added, continuing to jot down notes on the back of her head.
The chief placed her palm over her face, "Just… just put him down already."
Maria instantly let go, dropping him flat on the floor.
"Ow." Felix answered, spreading his hands on the floor, one holding the pad, the other the pen.
"I wanted to inform you that after your mission in Japan, 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." The chief explained.
Felix got up from the floor, "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?" Maria raised an eyebrow.
"Did it come from Obsidian Industries? Because there was this note signed by Vermilion. Ring any bells?" Felix showed the letter to the older lady.
"Or maybe they're from Aetherion?" Maria added.
The chief checked on her computer, "I can't find anything on the records, however, though there is a recently admitted Crimson—" The chief stopped, preventing a chuckle from slipping out.
Felix's mismatched eyes narrowed, "Crimson?"
"Don't mind it. According to the database, there is no one registered as Vermilion. It might be someone who recently joined but has yet to choose a codename." The chief answered.
"Met a couple of new recruits just now. Maybe they came around the same time. One of them… had different colored eyes."
"Ah yes. Rico and Kaitlin. The two of them recently underwent the implementation, so they're currently under observation while the professors run routine tests."
"Right. Routine tests…" A white room flashed in his mind for a moment as he began fiddling with his pen.
Maria raised her hand, "What was in the package, anyway?"
"Illegally manufactured plutonium-239."
"Huh…"
"They're making a nuclear bomb?" Felix's eyebrows knitted and began clicking on his pen, "This is bad…"
"It gets worse. Maria said there was something she wanted to announce."
"Hm?" He glanced her way.
"Yeah… that thing I wanted to tell you when you got back." Maria cleared her throat, "The Matrix Key is a device that projects cascading strings of real-time adaptive holographic code that—"
"English, Maria," the chief cut in.
Maria exhaled sharply and turned to Felix. "Technologically illiterate…" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It can open any digital lock. Firewalls, black boxes, air-gapped systems — It's not just for the Twelve Agencies. If it runs on code, the Matrix Key can tear it open."
The pen clicked once. Twice. Faster. Felix tilted his head, turning towards chief for answers while clicking rhythmically..
"Felix, that includes military satellites, defense grids, autonomous weapons, banking systems and infrastructure. Every classified archive the world doesn't know exist." The chief folded her arms, "It can shut down cities, rewrite borders, or trigger wars without a single shot fired."
He began clicking incessantly.
Maria grabbed his hand, lowering it. "Fortunately," she said, "it's been fragmented into six useless pieces."
Felix nodded slowly. "So we either find the remaining fragments… or break the one we already have."
"There's a complication," the chief said. "The Matrix Key was developed by Brilliant Light Technologies, and they want it back, whole." The chief straightened. "So, your mission, for the foreseeable future is…"
The door opened, and Murphy returned holding a tray with drinks, "Your beverages, sir."
Only for Felix to snap his pen, eye-twitching, "Thank you, Murphy."