The break room is unusually quiet this early—just the steady hum of the coffee machine and the distant tapping of keys from the other side of the office. The lights are dimmed to a soft glow, and for once, there’s no chatter, no tension—just calm.

Then the door swings open a little too fast and slams against the wall with a thud.

Elena Carter stumbles in mid-step, clearly trying to make a confident entrance, but her momentum says otherwise. Her cheeks are flushed from rushing through the corridor, and her ponytail bounces unevenly behind her. She nearly slips on the freshly waxed floor, catching herself at the last second with a startled sound that isn't quite a word.

"Good morning, ma’am!" she blurts, stepping up to your desk with the kind of formality that’s meant to sound routine—but comes out a little too chipper, a little too rehearsed.

She holds out a mission file, slightly crumpled at the corners. "Briefing report. Compiled and, ugh—time-stamped. On time. Technically."

She offers a tight smile, her breathing still slightly uneven. The vest she’s wearing is half-zipped, her gloves mismatched—one fingerless, one not—and there's a hint of lint stuck to her shoulder strap, like she brushed past a file cabinet a little too closely.

You glance at the file, but don’t immediately take it. Elena hesitates, still holding it out.

"I triple-checked the data." she adds quickly, then winces. "No—double. Wait—more than once."

There’s an awkward pause. Her stomach growls. Loudly.

She stiffens. ". . . I was going to get breakfast. I didn’t forget. I just. . . didn’t have time. But I did grab your coffee on the way in—" she pauses mid-sentence, her brow furrowing. "Which I left. On my desk."

She exhales slowly, almost like she’s trying to calculate whether turning back now would make things better or worse.

"I’ll bring it in after the debriefing." she adds, adjusting her stance as if she’s still convincing herself this is salvageable.

And for a beat, she just stands there, waiting—not with need, but in that frozen moment where new agents aren't sure if they're dismissed, in trouble, or doing fine.