The 11th Mission - Chapter 5 - The Masquerade Party

                                                                                   

                                    The Masquerade Party

Andrea entered her dishevelled room, she took out her suitcase and opened it. Andrea took out her makeup bag first and started applying it, she wore a ruddy lipstick and put pink blush on her cheeks using her brush. Once she was done with everything she opened a small bag that was kept secretly in one of the compartments. It contained the dress which she was going to wear in the masquerade party. The moment Andrea took it out she was in awe, "Guess C.A.T. does have good taste" She said to herself, the dress was a beautiful beige colour with flares at the end, it was sleeveless, ostentatious, and extremely elegant. The reason the dress was kept in a secret compartment was because it had classified devices and weapons in it personally designed by professor Magnus with his own hands, the devices were kept stuck to a velcro on her back in the inside of the dress, "Did you see the dress?" Questioned Alexander, "Yes, its beautiful" Replied Andrea, "Check the back side, on the inside there are professor Magnus's newest gadgets" Added Alex, Andrea turned the dress around on the cold bed to see, "Wow, these are futuristic" Replied Andrea scrutinizing all the devices, "The one that looks like a gun doesn't have a name so I call it the jump - helper, when you press the trigger instead of a bullet a rope will shoot out from it, the rope lasts for about a 100 feet, cool right?" Asked Alexander, "Yeah, finally C.A.T. stopped giving such old gadgets" Replied Andrea observing the jump - helper, "Okay, the one that look like glasses are the examiners, they'll help you act like Claire, as she knows many other people attending the party you also have to, once you wear this you can identify everyone and you will get to read the general information and what relation Claire and they have, this way you can completely act like Claire."  Added Alex, "Okay, but if she knows so many people then how will I look like her?" Questioned Andrea, "You're going to wear a mask and your complection is like her's, so you don't need anything else"  Said Alex," Okay" Said Andrea. She then observed all the devices as Alexander guided her till she knew every device's purpose and how to use it. Andrea held the fluffy dress and took it inside the washroom  to change, when she came out she looked in the mirror and admired the dress again. Andrea left her hair and started combing it, she wore a low messy bun but as she has short hair and Claire long, she put extensions. She tied her bun using a pink satin ribbon. Before leaving for the party she reached for the gadgets on the back to see how conveniently she can do it without looking suspicious, "Hmm, pretty easy" Said Andrea to herself continuously taking out and putting back the jump - helper. Andrea walked up to the door of her room and when she was right ahead of the door frame bent from her left side and took out the pink mask covered in feathers from her small backpack lying on the floor, she smelled the chrysanthemums kept in a vase next to the door as she loved the earthy fragrance and turned around to see her messy room, "Meh, I'll do it when I come back" Said Andrea shrugging her shoulders. She walked through the hotel's corridors dragging her long gown through the hallway. "Alright Alex, what's my ride?" Asked Andrea excitedly right outside the hotel, "Well, since Blacksmith's so rich you get to go in a limousine today!" Exclaimed  Alexander excitedly. "Oh my God, seriously? I'm so excited!!!" Cried Andrea, the shiny white limousine arrived, she hopped into the car eagerly. Andrea smiled the whole time, "We've reached ma'am" Said the driver in a gruff voice after a short drive. Andrea stepped out of the car as her shimmery high heels stomped, she went up to the entrance of the humongous mansion filled with champagne drinking guests incessantly chattering, when Andrea walked towards the door in the front yard, many of them stared at her, for her dress was worth staring at, the ladies glared at her enviously and whispered to their neighbors. Andrea got to the prodigious glass door and right before opening it saw a woman holding a metal detector flapping her hand asking her to come, Andrea turned to lady's side and entered the queue, while waiting in the line she communicated with Alex, "Oh no Alex, how will I get away with these devices?" "You don't have to worry Andrea, all these devices are metal detector proof, I don't know how, professor Mangus did some crazy science thing for this" Explained Alex calming Andrea down. She took a deep breath when her chance came and went up to the expressionless lady, she put her bag down on a table as the lady moved the metal detector on Andrea's dress, the lady then looked in Andrea's bag and moved her hand through the bag, "You're good to go" Said the lady scanning another person. Andrea then went to the entrance door to see a skinny man wearing a bow tie guarding the door with a face full of apathy, "What is your name" Asked the man with a French accent, "Bonjour, I am madame Claire Blacksmith, invited to this party" Replied Andrea confidently trying the French accent too, "Hmm, Blacksmith..." Murmured the watchman scrutinizing the guest list by squinting his eyes. Andrea looked around patiently waiting for his confirmation. "You can enter the party, have a great time" Said the watchman without any expression, Andrea smiled and opened the huge glass door, she saw tons of people wearing bow ties and gorgeous dresses chuckling and chatting as Aline Alarie moved on to every group as they waited for her to approach them, as Aline did not know Claire a lot Aline only greeted Andrea by saying, "Hello, I'm Aline Alarie, have a great time" and left to talk to her friends. Andrea smiled and wore professor Magnus's glasses to see if anyone knew Claire, she finally found someone whose information was 'James Blacksmith. Business Partner of Claire Blacksmith. Distant cousin.' She immediately approached him and said, "Hello, good to see you here James, it's Claire" He turned around at first surprised for he noticed her voice changed but then warmly smiled and replied, "Oh hello Claire, good to see you too. Well I'm Aline's big fan, I had to do a quiz to get an invite, that was really hard, Did you know she once bought a truck load of caviar? Anyways, your voice changed a bit" "Yes, sore throat you know" Said Andrea anxiously "Well, I got to go, she's showing those pearls now!" Exclaimed James excitedly. Andrea did not tell him that she was going the same way too for she did not want to make it more difficult to steal the pearls, she tried to see if more people knew Claire after James left but then discovered that James was the only person she knew. Andrea quickly rushed to the room James went in to see the pearls, the room was filled with all antique things, Andrea searched for the pearls and then finally saw a glass cabinet filled with the pearls stuck to a wall, Aline was continously talking about how rare they were and the guests obediently listened. "How am I supposed to steal them Alex?" Questioned Andrea, "You can wait for everybody to leave the room and as James is Aline's big fan you can talk Aline into meeting James and sneak into the room, then escape through the window" Replied Alexander  "Yes! How could I not think of that! You're a genius Alex" Exclaimed Andrea leaning on the door frame. Andrea waited for everyone to leave the room and entertained herself in the meantime, she ate a fistful of macaroons by the time the desert bar chefs befriended her and ate steak until she was full. Andrea peeped in the room once again and saw that Aline was the only person in it, she sighed and went up to her as she interrupted Aline admiring the pearls, "Hi, I'm Claire Blacksmith, actually my cousin brother is a really big fan of yours and it would mean a lot to me if you could just greet him and maybe take a picture?" "Sure! of course, where is he?" Replied Aline, Andrea was relieved as she guided Aline to James, he was obviously extremely ecstatic and thanked Andrea multiple times, as James talked to Aline Andrea tip toed away from them as she disappeared into the dark room in which the pearls were kept. Andrea closed the door of the room and locked it with the key kept on a table, she slipped out the lock pick from her dress noiselessly and opened the glass cabinet patiently, she smiled as it opened in her first try, Andrea suddenly heard foot steps and quickly took out the pearls and put it into a bag in haste, she quickly took out a spray that erased finger prints from her dress and put it on the cabinet in a hurry. Andrea quickly ran to the window to open it but then realised that it was jammed! She gave a frustrated grunt as the foot steps got closer, and then after many grunts and pulls she finally opened it! Andrea jumped out of the window and found herself in the back yard, she heard someone open the room's door and ran to the front yard back into the mansion and tried to look relaxed. James saw her and thanked her again, after a few minutes she saw Aline standing outside the room crying, "My pearls! My pearls! They're gone!" The police arrived and the party ended, Andrea went in the parking lot and into her limousine. Once she seated herself under her breath she said, "Mission accomplished" And smiled, "Yay! Congrats Andrea!" Exclaimed Alex. They both celebrated until Andrea reached the hotel. "I've booked a flight back to the agency for you" Said Alexander, "Great, good job, another mission successful partner" Replied Andrea.

That's it for today! This is the end of the story! I had a great amount of fun writing this.

And extremely sorry for the delay in uploading this.

I hope you liked it!

Stay Pickleful!

Au Revoir!