ALL NOVEL Chapter 45
Dan had no clue who he was dealing with. He was so paralyzed with shock and fear on top of his splitting headache that he didn’t know what to do. He just tried his best to stand as straight as possible.
If Dan had to guess, the Kodak agent in front of him stood at least forty to fifty centimeters taller than he was. She had dark hair tied into a ponytail along with the same pale skin and bloodshot eyes as every other Kodak agent Dan had encountered so far. A difference that stuck out to him were her eyes.
Her eyes were bloodshot but her irises were a piercing white that stood out from all the red. It was a bizarre look to be sure. Dan’s opinion had not changed since the first time he had laid eyes on female Kodak agents. A lot of these ladies would look far more attractive if they ditched the pale skin and red eyes. But he guessed that bizarre and intimidating was the mandatory look for all of these Kodak agents.
The smirk on the agent faded away and she spoke. “I don’t envy you. You probably deal with the same numbskulls as I do when you have your meetings with my bosses.”
Dan cleared his throat and said, “It’s part of the job unfortunately.”
“Ah yes, it very much is. My request for reinforcements still hasn’t been taken seriously. The only response I’ve gotten from Overlord was to stand by and await further orders.” The agent spat on the pristine carpet. “I had to remind that bastard that I have a precious batch of the our latest stolen cargo from those fools from the Alpha Corp. While I’m wasting time standing around awaiting further transport, Michael Cynosa could be coming up with a plan to steal the goods back.”
Dan kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t surprised to hear that other shards had their own share of grievances.
He had no idea what he could possibly reply with to a response like that. He wondered who exactly this agent was and how she was this perceptive in anticipating her enemy’s next moves. Past the headache and the initial shock, he finally thought to pull up her stats.
Agent: Colleen Odyssey
Age: 27 F
Shard: Kodak-Cresh
Rank: ***ERROR***
I’ve never seen this shit before, he thought. Dan had never once encountered any errors in scanning another agent’s stats, even an enemy’s.
Colleen’s name alone filled him with a level of dread that he didn’t know was possible. This was the same twin sister Michael had warned them about during the briefing before the mission. He also remembered the conversation between Kate and Adam where Colleen’s name was mentioned. Were they talking about the same agent?
“I’ve lost so many under my command trying to grab the prized package. Now I’m stuck with a mere fraction of the warriors I had when I fought Michael Cynosa’s team over that shipment. And I’m not so confident about our mole either.” She curled her fist. “I can’t wait to see Michael’s face and put my fist through his entire head.”
From one of Jane’s lecture, Dan discovered what a mole was under this context. He assumed this Colleen was speaking about Kate who had betrayed the Alpha Corp and joined this group instead.
While Dan didn’t know Colleen’s exact stats, judging from the confidence behind her words and her desire to meet Michael in combat, he guessed she was a high end tier three like Jane, or even better.
“I heard about your scheduled meeting with the Kodak executives today,” Colleen said. “Be thankful you’re having your meeting before mine. I have some… words to exchange with those fools. You may be an arms dealer from our sister branch, but I doubt even you would be ready to see the carnage I can dish out with my bare hands.”
Dan was so confused by what she said that he had to ask a follow up question. “Are you trying to infer that you’re going to kill some of your upper brass? And you expect to get away with it?”
Colleen cackled at this line of questioning. “It’s obvious you haven’t been with Cresh for very long. If you have, you would know who I am. I wield similar power within the shard as those suit wearing assholes. I could execute anyone of them on the spot and have them replaced with a snap of my fingers.”
Dan once again had no proper response he could think of. He wondered if agents like Michael and Jane had the same way of looking at the Alpha Corp executives whenever they made decisions they didn’t agree with.
Colleen showed her teeth in a wide grin and said, “You’re oddly polite and quiet for an arms dealer. That’s quite an oddity in this line of work.”
Dan said nothing fearing that she might be on to him. He was thankful he was still wearing his sunglasses and mask that covered most of his face.
She walked in slow deliberate steps. The agent made sure to emphasize her hip movement while doing so. She walked past him and then paused in her tracks. “For future reference, I’m the daughter of Kodak’s current president. Keep up the good work, stay on my good side, and we’ll have no problems.” She flashed him one last toothy grin before she walked off.
Dan’s headache was still pounding his skull, but that was nothing in comparison with his close encounter with Colleen Odyssey. He began walking slowly in the opposite direction, not even daring to take the same flight of stairs as she was.