"Agent 24601."
Dr. Lefebvre, his eyes cold and unwelcoming, scrutinized the man in front of him. He seemed to be in his early twenties, yet he seemed younger beyond his years. Agent 24601 possessed piercing blue eyes that churned like the ocean before a storm, and a thick mop of dark-blonde hair, styled on top of his head. The man stood upright, with an aura of confidence swirling around him.
"That would be me, sir."
The young man did not even falter after the doctor gave him a harsh, cold look-over. Who does he think he is, Lefebvre pondered. How old is he? Three?
"You seem a little, dare I say, young to be doing this specific job."
The young agent stared down the leader. His eyes, once seeming open and happy, turned judgmental. "That's what they always say. But I assure you, I'm the best that you'll ever find."
These young agents, Dr. Lefebvre internally groaned. They're so full of themselves. They think that they're automatically better than everyone else. This guy is just another one of those wannabes who can't do a single thing for our organization.
"Don't become too cocky here, Agent 24601. I can assure you that there is always someone better than you or a replacement. Just because you might of been better than the inferior students you presumably studied with before means nothing now. You are now here with the highest trained agents in the system. Don't become too overconfident or you'll be packing your bags and on the next train to Nowhere."
"Did you even read my file? Or did you just decide beforehand that you would discriminate me anyways?" The agent scoffed. "Some kind of leader you are. The people who worked where I was positioned in raved on and on about the intelligent and fearless leader. They kept talking on and on about how much they wanted to meet you. And you can't even read a single file. That just proves that you're arrogant and lazy."
"Insults will get you nowhere, Agent 24601. It will only make your situation worse."
"Maybe if you actually read my file, you would know why you cannot remove me from this case."
"Why so insistent with this file?"
"Why so reluctant to reading it?"
Succumbing to the pressure, Dr. Lefebvre snatched the file off the mahogany desk. Flipping through the pages carelessly, he scanned for the most important details that would dictate his decision.
"It seems that you graduated at the top of your class with the number one position." He clicked his tongue against his pearly white teeth to create a sound of approval. "And you also received high honors from Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen. That's very impressive, if I do say so myself."
The agent nodded his head in thanks.
"But there are many agents, who graduated with top honors from a different facility, prying for this same job. Half of them are probably better agents than you will ever be."
"Now I highly doubt that's possible."
"And why should I let your idiotic presumptions cloud my judgement?"
"Because I'm special. It sounds very cliche, if I do say so myself. But, I have something to provide for this organization. And I think I can show you that if you assign me this case."
"Why would you even want to do this case?" Dr. Lefebvre asked, sheer curiosity consuming him. "Most of the new or young agents like to work within our facilities before they get sent out immediately. Why should we let you?"
Agent 24601 smiled broadly. "Because I'm the best choice you have. You need someone young to be in this case. Those kids would never allow an adult, let alone a stranger, be around them. Their leader, Max, would never trust them."
"You've obviously been studying the case thoroughly. Please do enlighten me on what you know."
"There are six children," Agent 24601 began. "Max, the leader, who is the most dangerous one and the one who should be captured first. Fang, her second in command. Iggy, the blind one. Nudge, the one that seems, quite frankly invaluable. The Gasman, who is the youngest male. And Angel, the young mind reader who is the number two priority."
"They are not just children, and you should now that. How would you earn their trust, convince them to do your bidding?"
"I can gain their trust. I know the ways of the bird kids. After all, I'm not that much different from them after all."
Dr. Lefebvre raised his eyebrows. "Now, what would you mean by that?"
The young man checked his surroundings. Deciding it was spacious enough, he unfurled his dark-brown wings. The feathers moved slightly, due to the air conditioning of the room, and the wings almost touched the two walls.
The doctor looked on in pure amusement, instead of the anticipated shock. "Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen grafted you wings, I see. He knew I would be hesitant about you. He must really want you on the job." He paused for dramatic effect. "That cunning little bastard," he muttered under his breath.
"Now you can't turn down my offer. I'm probably the best option for you at the moment. I have wings. The so called Flock will accept me because of our similarities."
"And how are you so sure of that?"
"Don't worry, monsieur, I have my ways."
"French, huh?"
"Je parle couramment le français et bien d'autres langues."*
Dr. Lefebvre sneered. "And that should matter to me, right? Well, guess what, it didn't."
"And that's where I think you're wrong. And that's where you know you're wrong. I am un atout to you."**
"You do possess certain qualities that would help us take down those wretched mistakes of an experiment. But, I am sure there are agents just as qualified."
"But there aren't!"
"Are you ever going to give in?"
"Nope. I will do whatever it takes to get this job and don't doubt me for even a second."
Dr. Lefebvre paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Then I guess you have the job."
The doctor held out his hand, which the new agent shook eagerly, his grip firm.
"Welcome to this unit, Agent 24601."
The man grinned happily. "No need for formalities. Please, call me Dylan."
Heehee I feel so sneaky. Okay, so I just want to explain something. This fanfic takes place at the end of Max. Fang never happened. The Flock does not know Dylan (yet). But, Dylan is still the same character and feels the same about everything, so yeah. I feel really bad about how my updates are so inconsistent but I have a really busy schedule and it's hard to find time to write! Thanks for reading! Read and review!
PS: Whoever finds the Les Mis reference in here first gets a mention :P