Agent X

xx| 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘 |xx

Ty was not pleased with the turn of events. Not at all. There wasn't the slightest sign of resistance to their presence, Dari had not hacked the security system, and Xara had gone in alone. Alone. Just thinking about it made Ty feel sick. How could Xara have done that? She had to have sensed at least a little bit of the danger that I'm sensing.

"Agent 30," Ty said quietly into his radio. "Come in Agent 30."

"I read you, 52," Dari sighed. Normally, Dari would have snapped at him for radioing her every two minutes. But right now, she just sounded exhausted—completely and utterly worn out from the situation. She prided herself on her tech skills, and yet she couldn't come through when Xara needed her most.

"I haven't hacked the system yet," she stated. Behind her monotone voice, he could hear the concern. She was just as worried as he was, along with Finn and Jax.

"Well, keep trying. I'm still keeping a lookout here. I'm sure that Xara will come out soon, but it's much better to be safe than sorry. Besides, there may be enemy agents inside the building that we can catch once Xara gets back. If we hack the system, it will help us find them."

"Ty."

"I'll keep a lookout here. I can actually see pretty far from where I'm seated, and I haven't seen any signs of WAOIC. I'll bet that we did such a good job keeping this meeting a secret, that they didn't even have a chance to find out about it. Xara's probably..."

"Ty!"

"What?" he asked, quite startled and confused.

"You do realize that we had this exact same conversation we've had for the last few times you radioed? I may not have Xara's memory, but after five times, it gets a bit repetitive."

This situation must be really messing with Dari's head. It's not like her to be so polite to me, Ty thought.

The fact that everyone else seemed to be just as nervous as him made Ty even more uncomfortable. It's easier for one person's gut to be wrong than for four people's guts.

"Alright, I'll stop radioing. But tell me if you see anything more."

"Of course, Ty." Dari hung up.

After doing a sweep of the perimeter, Ty turned his attention back to the old warehouse, gluing his eyes to the place where Xara had entered. Without looking up, he reattached his radio to his belt.

How long could it possibly take to enact this exchange? Ty fretted. Something must have gone wrong.

Deep down inside, Ty knew that Xara could take care of herself. But he couldn't shake his instincts. Lately, he'd grown very protective of Xara.

It was undeniable that Xara had skills, especially in intuition and in picking up on small details. The only thing that she never seemed to notice—or at least, never acknowledge—was that fact that Ty cared a great deal for her. Ty never bought her flowers or asked her out, that would be too obvious. Instead, he tried to spend as much time with her as possible. He kept hoping that maybe if they grew to be close friends, she would come to realize that he was good enough for her.

The problem was that Xara was married to her work. Espionage was all she knew. She didn't grow up in a cutesy family where she was dressed up in princess outfits and given teddy bears. As a child, she was dressed in leather, played with toy guns, and trained relentlessly. She lived at the IIA headquarters, and went weeks where she never saw her parents, who were on missions. She was taught to be tough and show no weakness. If Ty was honest, he wasn't sure if Xara even knew what the word "love" meant.