paired {h.s}

part four

"Team!" Red-hawk's loud voice was heard from the middle of the room, making us all look up to see him and a boy that I did not recognize standing beside him.

The boy looked in his early twenties, at least. He had short chocolate brown hair, nicely slicked back with the sides shaved.

"We have a new recruit to our crew today. This is Agent Styles." Red-hawk held out a hand to introduce the new agent, the whole room giving a short round of applause. The boy gave a shy wave and a rather sheepish smile.

"Please introduce yourself to him in your own time and try your best to make him feel extremely welcome here. That is all." After this, we all continued on with our duties.

I was about to open my laptop to resume my work when I received a light tap on the shoulder by Red-hawk. I turned to see him beckoning at me to come with him to wherever he was going.

I did as asked and followed him down to his office, glancing over to see Agent Styles was still by his side. The three of us stepped inside Red-hawk's office, Agent Styles closing the door behind him.

I had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.

"Hi." He breathed out, as we sat in the two seats facing the huge desk Red-hawk sat at.

"Hi." I replied, just as Red-hawk began to talk.

"A new company has appeared on the market recently, Janelle Cheri. Heard of it?" He began, tapping down on the glass table.

"Mhm, everyone's getting a Janelle Cheri jacket nowadays." I nodded.

"Well, suspicious behavior has been picked up around the new company and two new employees of Janelle Cheri have gone missing." Red-hawk told us.

"Gone missing?" Agent Styles' eyebrows furrowed and he leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

"Haven't been heard from for about 3 days. Strange, isn't it?" He started to walk around his office, staring at awards and various items hanging on the walls. "I'm pairing you two up for this mission and sending you to the Janelle Cheri Fashion Show this afternoon. I want you to scope that place out and find out what's going on."

I guess when I said I liked working alone, he didn't particularly hear it.

"Understood?"

"Understood." Styles and I said in unison.

A fashion show? This'll be fun.

"Great. Now, get down to the suit up station asap. There's definitely no time to waste." Those were his last words to us before he waved off, making us stand up and leave in a hurry.

"Oh and by the way? Thanks for taking my whole working alone thing into consideration, Dad." I huffed, rolling my eyes and walking off.

Mission time.

.

.

.

The huge room where the fashion show was taking place had been decorated with brown, white and pink hangings to match the company's theme and feel.

"So, you're the chief's daughter, hm?" Agent Styles spoke as we walked in, watching many people find their way to their seats as we did the same. "Da-nick-ah, right?"

"It's Da-KNEE-kah." I showed an awkward little tight-lipped smile and continued on through the rows and rows of chairs.

"I'm Harry." He replied as we just about found our seats and sat down.

"Nice to meet you." I said, honestly still very aggravated indeed that I was doing this mission with a partner instead of by myself. But what could I do? "So what made you decide to join the crew?"

"Needed a change of lifestyle. My life isn't exactly great."

"Oh. But why the MI5?"

"It's the place where people save people that don't know they're being saved. I think the idea of being a secret hero is... settling." Harry explained.

Just as I was about to reply his rather intelligent answer, the lights in the room all dimmed and a video was projected onto the brown curtains which were drawn together at the back of the runway.

The video had an old-ish feel with different grains and light leaks all over. Some flickers of the letters 'J' and 'C' appeared, so did flickers of numbers.

"Have you got your camera out? Record this." I muttered to Harry. He tapped the side of his glasses and nodded at me.

Looks like Lou down at the suiting up station gave him the spy glasses then.

The curtains opened swiftly as soon as the video ended and one by one, tall gracious models made their way down the runway and back again. Some were in skimpy little dresses, others dressed in different blouses and tight booty shorts.

"Is it just me or do they look..." Harry's face as we continued to watch the show grew in utter disgust.

"Brain-dead? Mentally switched off, perhaps?"

"Mhm, and it's extremely sinister."