Gold or Silver

Chapter II: A mission

The clock's ticking annoyed me beyond what I could have ever thought anything could ever do. The faces of everyone staring back at me only added to my frustration. They all looked the same. Their eyes twitching and blinking without as much as half a useful thought behind them. No wonder the thought of how much longer I have to wait before this shit house is replaced with my own people keeps me up at night. Missions always take five times as long as they should because of these moronic puppets. It's honestly a wonder that this country hasn't toppled down all the ranks one after the other with helpless little toddlers like them. Where did all that hardcore training go? I've always thought that the training is supposed to groom the trainees into the exact opposite of what they all are. And most of them are way older than me. These old bags of idiocy have been here when I was still in high school and yet look at how pathetic they are. Yet again I suppose this is why the world is still in the chaos it is.
      The swarm of idiots all grew visibly excited and some even started whispering to one another when their leader arrived. Of course she's not the leader. She's only the second in command. The official leader would be me but they consider her their leader more than me for she matches the plasticity of their minds. What annoyed me more was the smug grin on her face. Most people revere that grin as radiating off confidence but I'd call it arrogant. The charm in the simple hello she says enchants the very people who have been trained to not be tricked by anyone and especially not a woman's charm. I suppose a lot of her success comes from that very fact. That's one of the things that makes Chanel such an important factor. Their eyes followed her until she took her seat. I was the last one she flashed her smile to. And to me, her charming smile was sprinkled with a small almost undetectable look of pride.
"It's a relief that you've finally made it back safely, Miss Miller." One of them said to her.
She giggled as she brushed her hair back, "It was quite a risky mission I must say but I'm glad it was worth it."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." I cut in, just desperately trying not to let how enraged I was be too obvious, "In fact, Chanel, I have quite a few issues with this mission."
Chanel's arrogant little smile did not budge at all. And of course it didn't. Had it been ten years ago, she would be trembling but not her new egotistical persona. Her grin was refusing to disappear, only forcing my rage to stay and grow along with it.
"Well I'd love to hear it." She replied, leaning forward on her arms. 
My hands clenched into fists under the table but I could see everyone's eyes on me. This is one part of my job that I hate the most. Not only do I have to get idiots to function properly to run a goverment but I have to do it with a smile. Perhaps it's easy for someone like Chanel. Pretending to be a happy go lucky little cheerleader with a can do attitude is how Chanel gets everyone wrapped around her fingers and under her every word. It may sound like a success but the only reason she does that is because she cannot enforce her demands on people with force. But either way, I had little other choice but to step down to Chanel's level. I leaned forward with the same smile as hers though I'm sure I was fooling everyone except Chanel herself.
"A good job is better than a quick job. This mission required a lot of funding, risks and effort. I can hardly be blamed for expecting you to have completed it with precision."
Chanel nodded her head with an annoyingly innocent glimmer in her eyes, as if she was playing for the innocent yet reprimanded victim card, "Yes, Luna, and that's exactly what I've done."
"I highly doubt that you could complete a mission this intricate with precision in just two short months."
"Yes, Miss Miller." One of the agents who often was in agreement with me in a lot of topics but much to his disappointment I'm well aware that he's not usually in agreement with me at heart at all, it's just his way of getting in my good graces to get his own way, "I agree with Miss Silver. I felt like the mission was really rushed and I'm afraid it may not be as satisfactory as the mission required."
"Yes, I'm afraid the mission lasted far less than what we initially thought it would." An older lady who had just recently come into my notice added.
"I can't help but feel a little hurt that my skills and dedication to my job is doubted to this degree." Chanel said with a chuckle.
What she was doing was nothing short of guilt tripping almost everyone into trusting her choices. Choices that were just as dumb as the people who believed her were. Her guilt tripping was subtle and hiding behind the curtain of her innocently charming chuckle but it was definitely there.
Chanel shrugged her shoulders with a smirk.
"You know I love the saying that rushed actions are not desirable. Rushed words are even less desirable." Chanel said arrogantly as she sat back in her chair, "I think you should check out the files in front of you."
That one word captured everyone's attention. I must say it did capture mine too for Chanel despite being an idiot would not sign herself up for embarrassment and say this so confidently and arrogantly might I add if she really did not have something. She
"I've been gone for so long that I felt it was almost disrespectful to come back without a small gift." Chanel giggled as she took a sip of her coffee.
She was clearly determined to keep me entangled in my rage. I could see everyone looking through the blue files that were sitting in front of them the whole time. I wonder why nobody whose whole jobs is to be well updated on everything. Everyone was was just brushing past the first few pages in the files, looking for something that unexpected and extraordinary but that just proved their lack of intelligence. Everybody's first instinct was to look for the surprise instead of reviewing the details of what they perceived to be just expected.
      While I was going through word by word of just the first two pages, everyone else was already grinning from ear to ear.
"Wow, Miss Miller, I don't think I can put into words how amazing this is." One of them said excitedly.
"You've outdone yourself, Miss Miller."
"I can't say I'm quite surprised though, Miss Miller has a tendency to perfect everything she does."
Chanel, who was definitely the only person who could tell that I was probably still reading nothing but the first few pages, took it upon herself to explain. What other idiots may have thought was charisma I knew to be simply her strutting her success in my face for doubting her.
"Rushed or slow, it doesn't matter as long as it's careful work." She said with that same annoying smirk, "I got you not only the information you wanted but something we never even knew we needed."
"As far as I know, I don't think we knew that they were so advanced in their nuclear weapons research at all." A younger female agent added.
"Well now we know." Chanel pushed two files forward, one towards me and another which seemed to have been a copy of mine towards the two agents sitting around me, "Two months is plenty of time. It was enough time for me to work with what I had gotten to develop a little improved version of their own weapons. Maybe give them a taste of their own medicine but just a little better."
Of course everyone was so quick to awe at her supposed 'genius' with little of them remembering that the government pays Chanel billions for just one of these designs. It's not like she would simply create new weapons and technology for the government for nothing. Chanel is nothing if not selfish. She manipulates everyone around her into anticipation and leaves them thinking that the one way to keep America safe is to be ahead and her designs are the one way to do so, she drains billions out of the government.
"If you're good at something, never do it for free. That's the key to success."
I'll never forget that line. Because she said that even when she barely had enough to eat. Well that motor really did get her where she wanted.
"I wouldn't be so overjoyed so quickly." I quickly cut in before the room erupted into idiots' celebration party, "Your plans have to be checked as you know. Perhaps you should wait before you start celebrating. I wouldn't want you to be disappointed"
Chanel sat back in her seat with crossed arms, "Yes, I know. I know this was unaccounted for but it's an unaccounted for step forward nonetheless."
She licked her lips, smirking because she alone could see what rage was boiling inside me behind the stone face.
Sometimes I really wonder if killing her will make all my problems go away. Even if so I missed my chance to do it years ago. I should have done it when she was just what she deserved to be, a nobody. Her disappearance would have gone unnoticed. It is much easier to get rid of a common everyday citizen than an internationally well figure, that is one thing I wish I could go back and tell my younger self.