The Sunflower

Gladiolus

I was jet-lagged and pissed. The dress was itchy, the crowd was loud, the room smelled of alcohol, and I was pissed. These weapons better at least be interesting, I grumbled silently. At this point my internal monologue, filled with curses in several languages, was the only thing keeping me from leaving the party and blowing off the mission. Alas, sadly my selfless heart would never let me fail a mission for such a petty reason as seventy-eight hours of constant discomfort. I smiled sarcastically.

My eyes expertly swept the large room of rich party goers. The guests all reeked of privilege and power, but the room still had an overwhelming air of superiority over everything else. The room, while simple, gave off the impression that much more was hidden in the large house. Though, I didn't know if my intuition was being affected by the facts that I already knew. The facts in question being that this was no ordinary house and this was no ordinary party. If I had finally succeeded in overcoming Mr. Gregory's attempts to hide his tracks, a weapons exchange was to take place here. Had already taken place.  A very dangerous weapons exchange concerning alien tech. Four countries, nine cities, and seven parties later I was finally confident I was in the correct location. Now I could finally have a little fun.

I danced gracefully across the large room, giving details of my fake persona to the occasional stranger.

"Excuse me sir, but you wouldn't happen to be the host of this party, would you?" I threw a charming smile to the man I had just casually bumped into. The man, at least twenty years my senior, took a long gaze up and down my body, his eyes slowing significantly at the high slit in my dress. In any regular situation this action would make me extremely uncomfortable, but this was a mission and I was in character. Instead, I subtly cleared my throat and gave another, more flirtatious, smile once he looked back up.

"Sorry to disappoint ma'am, but I could be the host at our own private party" I scoffed internally at his pickup line, but outwardly my expression became even more sultry. My hand moved upward to curl a piece of hair between my fingers, then moved down to my collarbone.

"That sounds lovely sir, but unfortunately I can't even enjoy this party until my business with the party's host is completed..." I trailed off my sentence as I put on a fake pout. The man looked to be stuck in a confused state. It seemed he could not decide if he wanted to look at my exposed thigh; my hand still traveling my collar bone, riskily close to my dress's neckline; or my lips. He broke out of his daze at my words though.

"Well it's your lucky day Miss, because I happen to know the person you're looking for. He's often busy the whole night at these sorts of things, but I can get him to meet with you right away, if you'd like," He sounded proud showing off his influence. "Wouldn't want to have to wait all night to leave this party, would we?" Somewhere in the back of my mind I was slightly disgusted by his relentless lust, but my smile never faltered.

"That would be lovely Mr...."

"Mr. Pérez" He answered my question, already leading me with a hand at the small of my back towards the far end of the party hall.

It took several minutes to get through the pushing crowd, and somehow by the end of it Mr. Pérez's hand had traveled a little to the south for comfort. He nodded towards a man almost completely hidden by the crowd around him, then quickly moved directly towards said crowd. I took the few moments alone to go over all the details I would need to remember. The weapons Mr. Gregory was delivering would have been the sole reason for this party, so the minute he arrived the exchange had probably taken place. That meant the goods were definitely in the host's possession at this point. So, in order to complete the mission successfully I would somehow have to get the host to lead me further into the large mansion. Thanks to my ever so eager to help "friend", Mr. Pérez, getting to the host was already solved. After reaching the rest of the house I would need to tr-