Agent X

xx| 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 |xx

I sat in the window seat of the jet, my nose squished against the chilly glass. As we flew through the sky, I gawked at hundreds of fluffy, white clouds. They were just these heavenly puffs of air! I especially loved it when we flew through them and for a brief moment, and the plane was surrounded in delicate mist. The scene was too perfect―I'd always wanted to see clouds suspended in the sky. And we were so close to them... it made me giddy with delight. I kept imagining what it would be like to open the window of the jet, to reach out and feel the air for myself.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ty smirking at me from across the aisle. I leaned past Dari, who sat on my right, to look at him.

"I don't see what's so funny," I declared.

Ty laughed. "I'm sorry! I've just never seen Agent X so interested in clouds."

I leaned back in my seat, a scowl settling on my face. "I'm not on the mission yet. I can do whatever I want."

Dari glanced up from her computer. "I never thought I'd ever hear Agent X say that."

I focused back on the sky, shifting my body so my back was to Ty and Dari. I knew they meant well, they were only teasing, but now was not the time to bring up the differences between the real Xara and me. I would be all business on the mission, but I just wanted to enjoy the scenery for a bit. It wasn't every day that I got to leave headquarters. This could have been a once in a lifetime opportunity.

My, what I wouldn't give to be able to relax on a cloud. I wonder what that would be like.

A few moments passed in silence, like the rest of the airplane ride had. Dari was busy checking all of her technological gear, Ty was memorizing the procedure for the mission at the last minute, like he always did, and Finn and Jax were in the cockpit.

Finally, I tore my gaze from the window to look at my watch. It was nearly 11:19. We had a little less than an hour before arriving in Brussels, Belgium.

I guess I should put my Xara make-up on. I hadn't done it yet since I didn't really enjoy the feeling of having thick creams smeared across my face. It made my pores feel like they were being suffocated.

I pulled out the makeup bag from Professor Nyryn and set it on the tray in front of me.

"You know, those trays are pretty gross. They typically aren't cleaned on airplanes."

My brow furrowed as I looked at Dari, who was engrossed in typing a complex code into her laptop.

"Really?"

Dari paused her work, figuring out what she was going to tell me. "Naw, just kidding. The people at the IIA do a good job of making sure everything is sanitary. But on commercial flights you have to be careful."

I nodded slightly before turning back to my work. I recalled a video I had once watched a number of years ago. I believe the title was 'Airplane Travel 101,' and it had discussed the procedure for packing for a trip, surviving airport security and long lines, and airplane boarding and exiting procedures. They had said the same thing that Dari had said―to be wary of anything that was on a commercial flight, including the food trays.

I turned on a tutorial video on how to make myself look like Xara. Professor Nyryn had shown me the step-by-step procedure of doing my make-up. She had filmed the entire thing so that I would have a reference on the trip. I squinted at the mirror in front of me and began applying the primer and foundation.

I don't know what I would have done without Professor Nyryn's demo. All of the different make-up creams, powders, and brushes were so confusing. Let's just say that make-up had never been an area of study for me. I constantly had to refer to a picture of the real Xara to ensure that I was doing the right contouring and blending. And if that weren't enough, my hands kept shaking from the meticulously detailed work.