Agent Chetiri

Chapter 17

You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.

-Albus Dumbledore

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(October 21, 2013- 9:07 AM)

Alexa had not planned on being here, not in the least.

She fidgeted nervously in her seat at Mycroft's office and looked around the room. It was sparsely adorned with plants and a print of an art nouveau painting on the wall. She stared at the picture on the wall, noting how impersonal it was and how its seemingly anonymous figures seemed to convey that of the whole office. It felt cold and detached and the space felt alien to her, like she was treading in unknown territory. The office was constricting to be in and Alexa resorted to staring at herself in the mirror across from her to calm herself down and inspected her new features carefully.

She had been cautious in her travel to London and took precautions to remain undetected. Alexa was now staying at the safe house in Islington and avoided making any hotel reservations to cover up her tracks. She took great care to change her appearance to the best of her ability. When she had left this city eleven months ago, her hair was blonde and now that she had come back, she had decided to dye her hair to a hue of brown that was closer to her natural hair colour, save for the fact that it was one or two shades lighter and her eyes were now a muted green. She swung her legs nervously, up and down, before she was led inside to Mycroft's office. Alexa stood up and shut the door behind her.

"Hi," Alexa said, smiling hesitantly.

"It's good to see you, Alexa," he said as he shook her hand.

"It's good to see you too," she said as she sat down and took off her coat and scarf.

"You look like you're doing alright," he commented politely as he took a seat behind his desk. She merely let out a soft laugh at his comment and shook her head.

"Honestly, I'm everything but," she said. Mycroft had noted that she had lost a considerable amount of weight and when she would look away, she would look as if she was weary of the world and all of the bullshit that came with it. It seemed like she was constantly fighting to uphold her cheerful demeanor.

She had several new scars that covered her body and they were hard to ignore. There was a long white line on her right forearm and several lines of different lengths and sizes crisscrossed sporadically across her hands and arms. He was willing to bet that there were some on her legs as well. Alexa had taken off her scarf to show her most prominent scar. It was at the base of her neck, near her collarbone. It was a short and jagged white line that had faded to a dull white, but looked painful nonetheless. It looked as if she had been training, preparing for the worst and also in quite a bit of trouble. Despite her physical advancements, however, she did not appear to have grown stronger emotionally. She seemed more fragile, like she held a shattering world in her hands that could crumble if she was not careful.

"Well, at least you're not dead," he pointed out.

"I guess so," she shrugged.

"I haven't heard much from you ever since you left. How's life?" Mycroft asked.

"Terrible," Alexa said instantaneously, leaning back into the chair.

"How so?"

"Well, when I left London, I had a plan that I thought was definite. I was supposed to go to my home in Kodino. But, nothing went according to plan and I found myself chasing after the Agency," she said. There was a concerned look on Mycroft's face and he leaned against his desk, staring at her intently.